Maintaining 20 versions of each package (FC4 to F10, EL4 and EL5, i386, x86_64, ppc and ppc64) take me a lot of time and energy (and I miss it).

I know that some hosting providers offer FC4 based solution. Today, keeping such a server seems really dangerous as it doesn't receive any security fix. I also understand that this could be acceptable on a private network.

What is my repository usage ?

Here is some download statistics for 2 recent package (php-5.2.9 march, 1st and mysql-5.1.33 april, 4) :

FC4 and FC5 packages figure (each) less than 1% of download traffic, and so, next repository to be closed will be FC7.

The users of this old (and obsolete) versions will be able to get the source packages and rebuild them on their computer (I will keep, as much as possible, the conditional instructions allowing this in the spec file).

Now, I'm wondering about the usage rate of Enterprise versions (RHEL, CentOS). It's near 85%...

Does Fedora become an Desktop only distribution ? Personally, I consider this is really regrettable. Hopeless. I really think Fedora is a first rate distribution for server in private network and, without a doubt, the best solution for a developer, and even more for a student which must study the latest version (which will be the standard one at the end of his course).

I'm also surprised disappointed by the few usage of remi-test repository, especially for php 5.3.0 RC1 (only 1 hundred download). Is there only free software consumers ? It seems that a lot of users has forgotten the way free software works, needing the implication of each user / contributor. And a lot of this consumers will complain about the stability of php 5.3.0, when officially published, or about non working php applications (dotclear p.e.).

Am I depressed about free software world ? I let you react to this entry, and perhaps give me back a few hope.

Start working ! upgrade your old distribution and test PHP 5.3.0 while I start preparing the Fedora 11 Leonidas transition and the new repository opening.

P.S I hope english reader will apologize me for my poor translation skill.