During the last weeks we've seen two changes: * debhelper compat level 8 (still experimental) prefers Module::Build over EUMM. We've traditionally expressed a build dependency on M::B by using "perl (>= 5.10) | libmodule-build-perl". When we want to change to compat 8 we either need to add this all over the place or accept the fact that the package won't build in oldstable (perl 5.8). - Several people on IRC said they were fine with dropping support for etch at this point in time. * The second development is that oldstable is removed from the archive now, which supports the point of not supporting it any more :) I've been thinking about this a bit and I'd like to write down a general rule for the future. Our group policy seems the appropriate place to add that and how long we want to support building on old releases (if possible by the dependencies, of course). Here's a quick draft: #v+ Index: policy.pod =================================================================== --- policy.pod (revision 60739) +++ policy.pod (working copy) @@ -107,6 +107,35 @@ Contains the list of contributors to the specific package, i.e. persons interested in co-maintaining it in the future. +=item Build and runtime dependencies + +We try to support backporting our packages to oldstable/stable where +possible. This effects handling of dual-lifed modules and versioned (build) +dependencies. + +=over + +=item + +For dual-lifed modules this means writing (build) dependencies as +e.g. I<"perl (E<gt>= 5.10.1) | libtest-simple-perl (E<gt>= 0.88)">. + +=item + +Regarding dependency versions this means adding versions when a package with +an older version is still in oldstable or stable. Versions that are already +fulfilled by the oldest release in the archive should be left out. + +=back + +At some point (usually a year after a release) oldstable will be removed +from the archive; at that point support for backporting to oldstable becomes +moot. + +Helpful tools: "B<rmadison> I<package>" for seeing the package releases in all +archive areas; "B<corelist -a> I<Module::Name>" to find out when a dual-lifed +module was integrated into perl core. + =item Vcs-Svn An URL pointing to the package's base location in our repository. That #v- Looking forward to comments on contents and language! Cheers, gregor -- .''`. http://info.comodo.priv.at/ -- GPG key IDs: 0x8649AA06, 0x00F3CFE4 : :' : Debian GNU/Linux user, admin, & developer - http://www.debian.org/ `. `' Member of VIBE!AT & SPI, fellow of Free Software Foundation Europe `- BOFH excuse #166: /pub/lunch
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