Post Syndicated from original https://lwn.net/Articles/925348/

Way back in 2009, we looked at the presto
plugin for yum, which added support for DeltaRPMs to Fedora. That package
format allows just the binary differences (i.e. the delta) between an
installed RPM and its update to be transmitted, which saves network
bandwidth; the receiving system then
creates the new RPM from those two pieces before installing it. Support
for DeltaRPMs was eventually added to the distribution by default, though
the feature
has never really lived up to expectations—and hopes. Now, it would seem
that Fedora is ready to, in the words of project leader Matthew Miller,
“give DeltaRPMs a
sad, fond farewell“.