Several suggestions

[zugunder]

Hi,

I have several suggestions for Mageia that are based on my user experience. However, I am not sure about the reasons why the things in the distro are organized in the way they are organized, so you may consider these suggestions as questions .

1. (Automatic) updates. I'd prefer them to be bound to the repo type, so that the package from, say, tainted will be automatically updated only from tainted and so on. Example - I have libfreetype from the tainted and on my machine it works much better than the newer one from the core.

2. Kernels. I do not know if the generic driver responsible for automatic screen brightness adjustment (dimming when idle, etc) is supposed to work well on any hardware, but in my case (Asus laptop) I only was able to set up automatic dimming with vendor-specific driver (adding corresponding kernel parameter at boot). So the question is - why not to set this kernel parameter (vendor-specific) by default for netbook- and laptop-kernels? I do not think that anyone would install them on a regular desktop box anyway...

3. And this one is more like a question. Since it happened that Mageia is more KDE-oriented distro, wouldn't it be better to pay more attention (i.e. to pack more) to various KDE-specific software (from KDE-Apps, etc)? There are quite many interesting things... I am still using Mageia1 and the situation in Mageia2 and coming Mageia3 may be different, so I am just asking.

Thank you.

[doktor5000]

1. (Automatic) updates. I'd prefer them to be bound to the repo type, so that the package from, say, tainted will be automatically updated only from tainted and so on. Example - I have libfreetype from the tainted and on my machine it works much better than the newer one from the core.

Is the case by default, as all tainted packages will be recognised as "newer" than the same package from core, due to their distsuffix. The same as with PLF back in Mandriva days. The problem you encountered is another, actually there should never be a package for which there should be a core and a tainted build, but there's only one in the repos. That would need a bugreport. And yes, this has already happened, but it should not.

2. Kernels. I do not know if the generic driver responsible for automatic screen brightness adjustment (dimming when idle, etc) is supposed to work well on any hardware, but in my case (Asus laptop) I only was able to set up automatic dimming with vendor-specific driver (adding corresponding kernel parameter at boot). So the question is - why not to set this kernel parameter (vendor-specific) by default for netbook- and laptop-kernels? I do not think that anyone would install them on a regular desktop box anyway...

There is no generic driver, and there is no generic one-fits-all AHCI setting for all laptops. What works for one laptop, may break correct behaviour at another. So you can only apply sane defaults which fits all devices. But you may still post this as a feature request and see what our kernel maintainer thinks about it: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/How_to_report_a_bug_properly

3. And this one is more like a question. Since it happened that Mageia is more KDE-oriented distro, wouldn't it be better to pay more attention (i.e. to pack more) to various KDE-specific software (from KDE-Apps, etc)? There are quite many interesting things... I am still using Mageia1 and the situation in Mageia2 and coming Mageia3 may be different, so I am just asking.

Mageia is not KDE-orientied. And if you are missing some packages, feel free to submit a package request: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/How_to_repor ... ge_request
But please keep in mind, we cannot have thousands of packages and add new ones, we still need to keep them maintained.
So basically, if you want new packages, you also need somebody who will maintain them or who wants to become Mageia packager:
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Becoming_a_Mageia_Packager

[zugunder]

Is the case by default, as all tainted packages will be recognised as "newer" than the same package from core, due to their distsuffix. The same as with PLF back in Mandriva days. The problem you encountered is another, actually there should never be a package for which there should be a core and a tainted build, but there's only one in the repos. That would need a bugreport. And yes, this has already happened, but it should not.

So, if I understood you correctly, the core and tainted packages with the same number must be released simultaneously?

There is no generic driver, and there is no generic one-fits-all AHCI setting for all laptops. What works for one laptop, may break correct behaviour at another. So you can only apply sane defaults which fits all devices. But you may still post this as a feature request and see what our kernel maintainer thinks about it: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/How_to_report_a_bug_properly

Well, in the thread I started (https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=3725) I cited the Arch knowledgebase and it says:

acpi_backlight=vendor will prefer vendor specific driver (e.g. thinkpad_acpi, sony_acpi, etc.) instead of the ACPI video.ko driver

So having read this I'd suppose that a vendor-specific driver would be always more preferable for a laptop...

Mageia is not KDE-orientied. And if you are missing some packages, feel free to submit a package request: https://wiki.mageia.org/en/How_to_repor ... ge_request
But please keep in mind, we cannot have thousands of packages and add new ones, we still need to keep them maintained.
So basically, if you want new packages, you also need somebody who will maintain them or who wants to become Mageia packager:
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Becoming_a_Mageia_Packager

OK, so my impression is wrong.

Thank you.

[doktor5000]

So, if I understood you correctly, the core and tainted packages with the same number must be released simultaneously?

Exactly. If it is not the case, and only one of them is availabe, it's time for a bug report.

Well, in the thread I started (https://forums.mageia.org/en/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=3725) I cited the Arch knowledgebase and it says:

acpi_backlight=vendor will prefer vendor specific driver (e.g. thinkpad_acpi, sony_acpi, etc.) instead of the ACPI video.ko driver

So having read this I'd suppose that a vendor-specific driver would be always more preferable for a laptop...

Ahh, now i understand what you're talking about. So yes, that would be something that should be considered for default boot options for all laptops. So, just put it up as an enhancement request via Bugzilla as already mentioned.

[zugunder]

Thank you, doctor. I have filed a bug and one enhancement:
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7977 - about Core/Tainted updates.
https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7978 - about kernel parameters for laptop-kernels.

UPD. I have an update regarding the second suggestion (kernel parameters). I got a reply from the Bugsquad:

Nope. That won't happen. It will break on a lot of hw [hardware]
There is only need to force vendor backlight when there is broken bios/buggy hw that does not comply properly with normal acpi backlight (or any of the hw-specific drivers in the kernel.

I expected smth of this kind, as many people use default kernel settings on laptops and everything works fine.
So, the only thing I could add is a "thank you" to Asus - for an upside-down webcam and non-standard hardware settings that caused problems everywhere but pre-installed Windows.

[doktor5000]

For completeness's sake and also to allow others to follow up on those bug reports, please also post the links to them here in the thread, thanks.

[zugunder]

Done. Will keep it in mind for future cases .