Re: Source only uploads?

[Matthias Urlichs <smurf@smurf.noris.de>]

Hi, Andrew Suffield wrote:

> a) All packages uploaded to the archive are built in an artifical
> environment. All packages in the archive function as expected.
> 
> b) The package is uploaded from real-world environments. Sometimes it
> breaks; when this happens the bug is noticed and corrected, so that the
> package always builds the same way.

c) The package is uploaded from the real-world environment where it works,
built on the architecture 99% of the users have. The breakage in the
other architectures' autobuilt packages is not noticed until after Sarge,
and/or when somebody does an NMU (or takes over the package) and suffers
from severe brain trauma trying to figure out how the h*ll it could have
worked _ever_.

> I say that (b) is vastly superior to (a).

I say that (a) and (b) have different trade-offs. However, you can't have
(b) without also risking (c). Since (c) is really not a nice thing to
happen, IMHO we should default to (a) -- consistency is good.

-- 
Matthias Urlichs   |   {M:U} IT Design @ m-u-it.de   |  smurf@smurf.noris.de
Disclaimer: The quote was selected randomly. Really. | http://smurf.noris.de
 - -
O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law:
	Murphy was an optimist.