Less Update Stress with openSUSE Built Packages

Feb 06, 2009

Debian, Mandriva and Fedora developers call them Sid, Cooker and Rawhide. OpenSUSE calls them Factory and they are ringing the changes for the Factory development.

Users are familiar with the downside: changing from another distro to openSuse, or simply out of tradition installing the newest openSUSE variation, and they're bombarded with daily updates that hardly seem to make a difference.

The problem lies with the automatic build process in the openSUSE development. When one developer modifies a code, the openSUSE build service re-compiles all dependancies and generates a new version number. A very practical idea with the possibility of creating completely new versions at any time. Yet the demand on resources and mirror servers is enormous.

Remedy: the build service will in future compare the new compilation with any current version and if identical, the fresh variation will be discounted. Saving bandwidth, and patience.

The changes to openSUSE Factory come into effect immediately, with further disros to follow. The script for the "build-compare" packages can be found in the individual Factory repositories.

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