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Bug#886219: lintian should be less pedantic about latest policy version



Holger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org> writes:

> package: lintian
> severity: wishlist
> x-debbugs-cc: debian-devel@lists.debian.org
>
> On Mon, Jan 01, 2018 at 05:26:35PM +0000, Sean Whitton wrote:
> > I think that Lintian shouldn't warn about not using the latest
> > Standards-Version; perhaps it should warn when you're using a really old
> > one.
>
> Same here. IMO warnings about the last two policy versions should only be
> shown in pedantic mode. If a package is 3 versions behind, then this
> should be a normal lintian warning.

The version strings used for Policy offer a hierarchy of the magnitude
of changes. Perhaps Lintian should use that hierarchy to determine the
severity of the tag.

An example rule set could be:

* Standards-Version matches Policy version at all levels (e.g. Policy is
  “4.4.4.4”, package declares “4.4.4.4”), results in no tag.

* Standards-Version matches Policy version only to the patch level (e.g.
  Policy version “4.4.4.4”, package declares “4.4.4.1”) is Severity:
  pedantic.

* Standards-Version matches Policy version only to the minor level (e.g.
  Policy version “4.4.4.4”, package declares “4.4.3.7”), is Severity:
  minor.

* Standards-Version matches Policy version only to the major level (e.g.
  Policy version “4.4.4.4”, package declares “4.3.8.9”), is Severity:
  major.

* Standards-Version is earlier than Policy version major level (e.g.
  Policy version “4.4.4.4”, package declares “3.5.2.6”), is Severity:
  serious.

That would allow the Policy maintainers to communicate the magnitude of
changes via the version string, and Lintian just obeys those magnitudes
via a simple SemVer match between the version strings.

-- 
 \      “Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the |
  `\             record of dead religions.” —Oscar Wilde, _Phrases and |
_o__)                     Philosophies for the Use of the Young_, 1894 |
Ben Finney <bignose@debian.org>


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