Rust toolchain backporting for Trixie
Dear backports ftpmasters,
like previously mentioned, I'd like to start providing rustc/cargo (and
potentially dh-cargo) backports for Trixie.
upstream has a 6 week release cycle, and each upstream release requires
either the same release or the previous one to build. this means every
single upstream release gets uploaded to experimental (for clearing
bin-NEW and shaking out issues) and unstable.
I frequently get requests from users that would like to use a newer
toolchain on top of Debian stable, and provide similar backports at my
dayjob already, so I have some real world experience what this entails.
occasionally, a newer Rust toolchain will require a newer LLVM release
to be backported as well.
I'd like to limit the list of architectures for which these backports
are provided to a sane set where I expect real world usage, mirroring
that of the rustc-web package that exists in stable for firefox-esr and
chromium. I suspect the existence of a rustc backport will also make
those -web backports easier/more streamlined (e.g., by finding problems
early on before a browser update requires a newer version, or by
allowing to re-use the backports package as stage0 for rebootstrapping
in stable proper).
the rustc-web backport is reduced in scope from the full toolchain, and
only done infrequently and with rebootstrapping, driven by the needs of
its consumers (the browser packages), so it doesn't serve the same use
case as a full, real Rust toolchain backport would.
I would like to start updating rustc to 1.87 in unstable once 1.86 hits
testing, which would ideally mean uploading 1.86 to backports soon.
given the requirements above, we'd not be allowed to miss any release
for backporting ;)
are there any concerns from your side about this plan?
the tl;dr summary:
- an upload of each Rust toolchain release to backports once it hits
testing (roughly every 6 weeks, but the usual fluctuations and delays
apply), restricted to a subset of architectures to avoid wasting
resources
- an occasional backport of the required llvm-toolchain-XX package
- an occasional backport of dh-cargo, if it is deemed sensible
thanks for your consideration,
Fabian
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