postgresql-8.2
Hi,
I've been a very happy backports user, but have recently run into the
fact, that Postgres is no longer mainained in version 8.2, but instead
the only version 8.3 is provided.
Now, I know the backport's policy is to only include packages from
testing. And obviously, 8.2 has vanished from testing, instead 8.3 (or
even 8.4, who knows...) will be shipped, once lenny becomes stable.
However, for Postgres there is no easy (enough) way of upgrading between
major versions (i.e. from 8.2 to 8.3). And for installations using 3rd
party Postgres modules or huge data volumes, it's pretty much impossible
to do it on a productive system. So we are in the situation, that the
etch backports once delivered packages for Postgres 8.2, but suddenly
doesn't provide upgrades anymore. And Postgres 8.3 doesn't count as an
upgrade, for the above reasons.
The Postgres project is pretty conservative about minor version
upgrades, i.e. those are mainly bugfix releases and certainly don't add
new features.
For these reasons, I think it would be reasonable to continue shipping
new minor version Postgres packages for every major version that has
ever been shipped by a backport (i.e. 8.2 for etch-backports, maybe even
8.3, if lenny comes out after Postgres 8.4 and decides to use that).
I know it's a violation of the above mentioned rule. But the current
situation makes the Postgres backports pretty much unusable for serious
work, because one must be prepared for the
'no-more-upgrades-for-your-major-version' situation - which is pretty
unpredictable.
I'm offering to maintain backports of 8.2 (and possibly 8.3, if
required) for the etch-backports. I'm not a Debian maintainer, but I've
already compiled various Debian packages.
Regards
Markus Wanner
Reply to: