Here's what I think we need: experimental - for stuff that is for very limited consumption, like what Manoj wants unstable - where uploads land after being taken out of Incoming. Packages will stay here and not make the transition to the tested/frozen/stable, unless the maintainer/developer feels it is ready to be injected into the wide distribution. tested - packages that have passed a peer review process, and will form the basis of the next release. So we would need a seperate process other than simply uploading a package for it to make the transition from unstable to tested -- preferably initiated by package maintainer. Bug-fixes and enhancements may be uploaded. frozen - the "beta" of a new release. Packages make the transition from tested to frozen when a freeze occurs. Only bug-fixes may be uploaded. stable - released packages. Only security related bug-fixes may be uploaded. What we lack now is the intermediate "tested" step. Once a developer uploads something to unstable, it will automatically get dumped into stable and pressed onto thousands of CD's -- even if it isn't ready. The status quo isn't a problem for the attentive maintainers out there, since they will notify Guy which of their packages aren't ready for prime time, and he can remove them from frozen. But not everyone has the time or inclination to be an "attentive maintainer", so lots of packages slip through the cracks and get put into stable when they really shouldn't be. That's what I think anyways... Cheers, - Jim
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