Created attachment 498082 [details] filesdir-sizes.txt.bz2 It's been pointed out more than once that our FILESDIR check is bad because it complains more about single large files while it ignores huge FILESDIRs consisting of small files. Even worse, some developers are purposefully working around the QA check via splitting patch files, effectively even increasing the space wasted. I think it'd be beneficial to set a new policy setting a limit on the cumulative FILESDIR size rather than focusing on every file separately. Since we don't want the check to depend on underlying filesystem (and e.g. it could go sideways on btrfs or reiserfs), I think we should use the apparent size. I've attached a list of apparent sizes (in bytes) of all FILESDIRs in Gentoo, sorted by size. Below's a quick count of how many packages we'd have to strip if we set a limit on: >=KiB pkgs 64 26 56 36 48 59 40 79 32 117 28 146 24 191 20 271 If we're also concerned about space use of multiple small files (do we have to, given structure of ::gentoo?), we could also consider setting up a file count limit.
Ok, guys, I think it's time to call a vote. Let's make it a double vote: yes/no for the policy, and a vote for max size. If the majority votes 'yes', then we'll choose the smallest size that is no smaller than votes of half of the QA members. Proposed policy: total size of 'files' subdirectory of a package should not be larger than ${maxsize}. If the package needs more auxiliary files, they should be put into SRC_URI e.g. via tarballs. Rationale: 'files' occupy space and use network throughput for all our users, even if they never intend to install the package in question. With growing number of packages, the total space wasted on 'files' becomes more and more significant.
My vote: yes, 32 KiB.
Yes, 32kB
Yes 32
vote: yes; 32 KiB
For completeness, current QA member list: amynka creffett mgorny mrueg patrick Pinkbyte soap tommy ulm williamh zerochaos Zlogene
yes, 40 KiB
yes, no opinion
yes, 32 KiB
yes, 40KiB
Ok, we have a clear majority at this point, so I'll announce the new policy. I'll keep the voting open for completeness. 9 out of 12 qualified developers vote so far. There were 9 'yes' votes, 0 'no' votes and 0 abstentions for the policy. The policy therefore passes. 3 developers voted for 32 KiB, 2 developers for 32 kB (i.e. 768 bytes less), and 1 for 32 unqualified units... but seriously speaking, we have 6 votes for 32 KiB, 2 votes for 40 KiB and 1 abstention. At this point we can say that 32 KiB has the majority.
I'll vote yes, and also add the comment that this isn't really a new policy. We had a maximum size for the files directory in the past enforced by repoman but it was dropped for some reason.
