Contributing to IUS

New Package Request

IUS users are encouraged to submit new package requests to our package wishlist. We can not promise that we will proceed with every request, so we came up with these questions to help evaluate requests:

We want to make sure new packages fit within the scope of IUS. The IUS CoreDev Team does have limited resources, so we want to make sure new packages won't effect the maintenance of existing packages. Also, we would like to avoid requests like, "It would be cool if IUS packaged $RANDOM_APPLICATION, even though I do not have a use for it."

Package Feedback

The most important way to contribute is to provide feedback on our packages. We want positive and negative feedback alike. Positive feedback helps indicate which packages see the most usage, and negative feedback helps us isolate issues and resolve them. If it is determined that the issue isn't related to packaging, but rather part of the upstream source code, we will work to get the fix added to the upstream source code whenever possible. Upstream developers value the feedback we help generate by enabling users of Enterprise Linux to use the latest versions of their software.

Early Testing

The testing repository is added as part of the ius-release package, but is disabled by default. Users can participate in early testing by enabling this repository and installing/updating from there. We also recommend configuring automatic nightly updates so that new updates are applied as soon as possible. If you see an issue with a testing package, let us know as soon as you can; if notified soon enough we can fix the issue before the update is pushed to the stable repositories and affects more users. Please see our release policy for more information about how long packages stay in each repository.

Spread the Word

There are many forums and blog posts around that internet describing various methods of upgrading PHP, MySQL, Python, and other softare on Enterprise Linux. Unfortunately, many of these recommend using problematic third party repositories, one-time rebuilds of source RPMs, or just manually compiling software from source. We know there is a better way! We stand behind the quality of our packages, and want as many people as possible to benefit from them. If you come across posts like these, contact the author and introduce them to IUS. If you have your own blog, we encourage you to write a post about your experiences with IUS. If you were able to solve a problem with IUS, you may be able to help someone else with the same problem.

An integral part of open source software is community. You can help form the identity of our community by discussing IUS in IRC channels, LUG meetings, or conferences. Recommending us to your friends and coleagues is another great way to help.

RPM Packaging

Users can participate in the development of our RPM packages by sending us pull requests against our spec files on GitHub. We also accept new package requests on our wishlist.

Currently only members of the Core Development Team who are Rackspace employees have access to our package build system. We are using a custom solution to build both IUS packages and also private packages for Rackspace. We plan to eventually deploy a publicly accessible build system to allow trusted community members to build IUS packages.