RPMS, time, and other things.

It is with some sadness I write this message to this group of talented people
that I have come to think of as almost an extended family.

As release time for PostgreSQL 8.0 comes near, I find myself unable to spend
as much time on RPMs as I once did; frankly, I find myself not quite as
interested in doing so as I once did.

The situation in which I jumped feet first back in July of 1999 was one where
RPMs for Red Hat releases came out infrequently, and where upgrading RPMs was
fraught with peril. Times have changed: Red Hat now employs Tom Lane
full-time to work on PostgreSQL; Red Hat RPM releases, handled by Tom, are
both frequent and well-managed; another community maintainer, Devrim Gunduz,
has stepped up to the plate and has managed the release of several RPMs at
this point. These are good changes.

Upgrading RPMs of PostgreSQL is still fraught with peril, however. I had
attempted to make this easier at one point, but it turned into a maintenance
nightmare, causing me to remove the half-attempt. I had a plan to help in
this by allowing multiple versions of PostgreSQL to coexist (which I would
still like to see happen, although I cannot at this time take the time to do
it myself), but found myself unable to complete the probably small amount of
work necessary to make it happen. This project deserves some fresh interest
in this area; thus, I am stepping down as active RPM maintainer. I do not
intend to unsubscribe from this list, however, and I intend to make myself
available to answer Devrim and Tom (or anyone else!) on any questions they
may have regarding the RPM packaging. I may critique from time-to-time the
packaging, if Devrim doesn't mind, but I just simply cannot invest as much of
my dwindling free time any more. My apologies for not making this decision
earlier in the 8.0 beta cycle.

This is a great group; in my opinion it is THE best open source development
communities in existence anywhere. I have been honored to have served in
this capacity, and look forward to PostgreSQL's continuing improvement due to
the marvelous efforts of this active, vibrant, community.
--
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC 28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu