[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Updating scanners and filters in Debian stable (3.1)



Andreas Barth <aba@not.so.argh.org> wrote:

> We can push neither of them into Debian via security.d.o. No, sorry,
> this is not the way stable works.

/Should/ it be the way stable works? We have the ability to change that.
Providing that we only do it for the set of software that would
otherwise be entirely useless by the time we make a new release, I don't
see that it compromises any existing principles.

Debian stable is about providing a stable platform that people can build
upon. It's about providing something that can be trusted to work, rather
than one where upgrades break things. It's not about slavish adherance
to the idea that we should never change any of it. In the absence of
more rapid releases, we should provide software that works rather than
software that doesn't. Failing to provide useful software because we'd
prefer to stick to the dogma of not changing anything serves nobody.

If you can find one real person who believes that it would be better to
either have no virus checker or one that will be entirely useless after
4 weeks than it would be to have updates that might actually provide new
functionality, I'll be impressed.

-- 
Matthew Garrett | mjg59-chiark.mail.debian.devel@srcf.ucam.org



Reply to: