Bug#27906: PROPOSED] Binary-only NMU's

[Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Paul Slootman writes ("Bug#27906: PROPOSED] Binary-only NMU's"):
...
> If you're saying that each and every binary version should be accompanied
> with corresponding source only when a release is made, then the whole
> problem could be circumvented by making the bug report with the diffs
> severity: important; that would prevent the package being released until
> the bug is closed (and hence the patches being included in a new upload),
> right?

This is a nice idea for a simple fix, but I think it has two problems:

1. A `Severity: important' bug doesn't prevent us _distributing_ the
binaries, just from _releasing_ with that version in our current
frozen tree.  Thus, we'd still be distributing binaries with no
corresponding sources, violating our social contract and eg the GPL.

2. That puts porters' patches, which are usually not important except
to the port(s), on the critical path for the release.

Ian.