Hi Mathieu and Roberto
Mathieu, do you mean that they patches should apply cleanly and if they do not, then we have missed some other important patch, or do you just mean that they should generally apply cleanly?
I'm asking as it is rather expected that patches do not apply cleanly when we are dealing with these old versions in wheezy. I do not want to give a precise estimate but something between 20 and 60% of the patches that I have applied to the packages I have done updates to in wheezy have not applied cleanly. Usually it is just minor things, but in some cases quite a lot of work have to be put in understanding the problem and finding out a new fix.
We should not be afraid to do that kind of work.
We do have the possibility to update to the latest software also in wheezy but that should really be done as a last resort, or only for packages that have a very good reputation on backwards compatibility. At least that is how I have understood the current practices. I mean we do not want to introduce unnecessary regressions.
Best regards
// Ola