re: what if a package needs to be "recalled"
Just curious, let's say version 15.xxx of a package is released but then
found to be faulty, and upstream isn't releasing a new version soon.
OK...... faulty is a rather vauge term
Can the developer somehow recall it?
Not really, it's probablly theoretically possible to remove a package from debian and then
reupload a lower version but it would require the intervention of the ftpmasters and
it wouldn't achive much because as you say people would have already upgraded.
Or he can repackage 14.xxx as "15.xxx.1" but then other
packages depending on > 14 etc. will get the version wrong and the
numbering will be misleading.
It's possible to use a version number like 15.xxx+really14.xxx but it's ugly to say the least
It's also possible to use an epoch e.g. 1:14.xxx, downside of that approch is that the
package has to carry the epoch forever.
Afaict it's pretty rare that a package that is so badly broken that reversion is considred
the only reasonable course of action makes it into debian.
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