Jesse Keating announced on the Fedora Maintainers list that the merge of Fedora Core and Fedora Extras into one repository will take place this Wednesday.
The procedure is explained in the Fedora project wiki: the aim is to have one single repository where everyone can work at everything. Before the merge all Core packages (like the kernel or the KDE Packages) where maintained by Red Hat employees only. After the merge people outside of Red Hat can also work at these packages.
Also, it will put an end to the disturbing divide of the package directories: instead of having two package directories (Core and Extras) there will be only one directory. Here is a sketch of the future directory structure:
pub/
`-- fedora
`-- linux
|-- development
|-- releases
| |-- 6
| |-- 7
| `-- test
| |-- 6.90
| |-- 6.91
| `-- 6.92
`-- updates
|-- 5
|-- 6
`-- testing
|-- 5
`-- 6
The question was also risen if this is not too short before the final release of Fedora 7 – the freeze is already there, making it a bit difficult to react to problems. However, as Jesse says, the merge was one of *the* main aims for Fedora 7 and therefore should be kicked definitely. Also, the different boards have discussed that and said it is worth the risk.
I’m looking forward to the new directory structure – it will give great opportunities without loosing the current advantages.
Update
The original announcement can be found on the list archive.
