F43 Change Proposal: Deprecate YASM (self-contained)

Wiki - https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/DeprecateYASM
Discussion thread -
https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/f43-change-proposal-deprecate-yasm-self-contained/160771

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes
process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive
community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved
by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

== Summary ==
This Change proposes to deprecate YASM and build packages with NASM instead.

== Owner ==
* Name: [[User:Rathann| Dominik Mierzejewski]]
* Email: dominik@greysector.net



== Detailed Description ==
YASM is [https://github.com/yasm/yasm/issues/164#issuecomment-1351844621
unmaintained] upstream currently, but it's still used to compile
assembly sources in 12 Fedora packages, including critical ones like
Firefox. Last release was in July 2019 and last commit was in June
2024. Issues are left unresolved and pull requests unreviewed. It is
getting dropped from [https://github.com/eweOS/packages/issues/4240
other distributions] already. In contrast, NASM is still maintained,
with last release in April 2024 and last commit in November 2024 with
no indication of upstream abandoning development. Most, if not all
upstreams support building using NASM already, so the proposal is to
switch their build dependency to NASM instead.


== Feedback ==


== Benefit to Fedora ==
Switching to compiling assembly sources with NASM ensures (critical)
applications are built with a maintained assembler.

== Scope ==
* Proposal owners:
** Open pull requests to switch <code>BuildRequires: yasm</code> to
<code>nasm</code> or make the changes directly where permitted.
** Mark {{package|yasm}} as deprecated by adding <code>Provides:
deprecated(yasm)</code>
** Work with affected package maintainers and upstreams to ensure they
build with <code>nasm</code> correctly.

* Other developers: Affected package maintainers are encouraged (but
not required) to ensure their packages build with <code>nasm</code>
instead of <code>yasm</code>.
* Release engineering: N/A (not a System-wide Change)

* Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

* Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

* Alignment with the Fedora Strategy: N/A (not needed for this Change)


== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==

No new packages should require <code>yasm</code> to build as it will
be marked as deprecated. Existing packages will be built using
<code>nasm</code> going forward. The change should be transparent to
users.



== How To Test ==
<code>fedrq wrsrc -s yasm -F name</code> returns no packages depending
on <code>yasm</code> to build.



== User Experience ==
There should be no noticeable user impact.

== Dependencies ==


== Contingency Plan ==
* Contingency mechanism: Revert <code>BuildRequires:</code> back to
<code>yasm</code> and remove the deprecation.

* Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change)

== Documentation ==
N/A (not a System Wide Change)

== Release Notes ==
YASM assembler has been deprecated and all packages that required it
to build are now built using NASM.


--
Aoife Moloney

Fedora Operations Architect

Fedora Project

Matrix: @amoloney:fedora.im

IRC: amoloney

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