hmm you are probably right, here are my thoughts
Note that as it is the only "supported" packages are the ones in the current feed, all the rest are "as is" ;-)
1) add more info in the package names ie kdepim-unstable-1.10RC5
Maybe we should add the name of the feed to the name of the package, so that there are less conflicts, for instance I should have put something like kdepin-unstable rather than kdepim.
The other problem with "non-official" ipk is that there are no indication about the verision of the builder used, there has been of fork whith RC5 between oldunstable and unstable and until RC9 it was not a big problem. (that is if everyone that put ipkgs in the unstable understood that it was a feed intended for RC>5)
RC9 has introduced gtk2.6 and it seems to create come compatibility problems,
that's why there is a version of vxwindows in the unstable feed and another one in the RC9 feed.
So maybe we should add some info in the ipk indicating the targeted rom version as well.
I don't know the ipk system well enough so I don't know the best way to do this
Again a solution could be to request all ipks in the unstable feed to mention the rom version in their name so something like kdepim-unstable-1.10RC5 so that it is a bit clear what the package. Maybe the uploader could enforce such a thing?
Of course, this is also true for other feeds. So maybe the pdaxrom team could put online some guidelines for the ipk?
I think this is very easy to do and if it does not really solve the problem it will help to track what is what.
2) "official" maintainers
Another problem is that to maintain a package you have to it by hand (re-download the new sdk, re-install it, re-do whatever was needed to compile, repackage the application in a ipk it etc..) and it is very time consuming. This explains why people contributing are not allways updating their packages, if it work for them it's enough.
Hopefully the how-to about the pdaxrom builder will help potential maintainers to automate some of this work.
I know that pdaxrom does not believe in the benefits of opening the development of the rom to a large number of people, but maybe they could think of a way to have "official" package maintainers, so that with each rom we can have a "contributed" feed.
I don't think it requires much work in behalf of the pdaxrom team, the contributed feed could be manage by the maintainers themselves, letting them discuss over say a mailing list and giving an ftp access so that they can update their feed the way they want. This way the work of the pdaxrom team would still be separated from the pdaxrom contributors team.
The "official" part would contribute to motivate maintainers to go beyond the "it works for me" attitude.
