Release impact of introducing a new archive section?
[Please CC me on replies.]
ftp.debian.org has a few outstanding bugs requesting new archive
sections, such as "javascript" and "rust". Discussions on IRC
#debian-devel led to the mail at
https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2015/05/msg00287.html , which
identifies a few different packages that hard-code section names and
descriptions.
Long-term, we should likely introduce a new repository metadata file
listing archive sections and descriptions (including translations); that
would allow software dealing with the archive to automatically handle
new sections, as well as repositories that want to introduce their own
sections. In the meantime, however, introducing a new section requires
updating a half-dozen pieces of software, such as aptitude, synaptic,
packagekit, lintian, and vim.
Does it seem reasonable to attempt to introduce these new sections
before the release, so that these pieces of software in stable can
successfully work with upcoming sections that will appear in
testing/unstable/backports?
I'd be willing to write appropriate bug reports and patches for the
various packages listed in the mail above. I (and ftpmaster) would like
to get input from the release team if they see negative effects on the
release from such a change.
- Josh Triplett
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