[PROPOSAL] don't upload to "stable unstable" (was Re: BAHH. Retraction.)

[Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>]

On Wed, Dec 27, 2000 at 01:48:24PM -0500, Daniel Jacobowitz wrote:
> 
> As far as I'm concerned, a better approach is just to never upload to
> more than one distribution and have newer versions in stable or frozen
> (if we have another frozen) automatically propogate outwards...
> 

IMO, this is the best solution. As far as I know, we wont have a
"frozen" anymore now that we have testing. Things will always go to
unstable, and then propogate to testing. We should never have a need for
uploading to more than one dist now. Usually uploads for stable are for
bug fixing (security, etc.) and not meant for newer versions.

I think we need to move this to -policy.

PROPOSAL:

With the integration of the "testing" distribution, we will not (in my
understanding) ever upload to frozen. Our uploads will generally go to
unstable, and propogate to "testing" based on some rules (bugs, time,
etc..).

Currently, it is still possible to build a package and upload it to
"stable unstable". A lot of discussion is bringing to light just how bad
this is. It's something porters have had to deal with for quite some
time. What I am proposing is that uploads to stable can never have a
newer version than the same package in unstable. Basically, do not allow
uploads to go to "stable" and "unstable" using the same binaries. So if
we have this setup:

stable:   foo_1.1-1
unstable: foo_1.1-2

If a new version is required for "stable" (because of a agrave bug,
secrity fix or what have you), then it should get an NMU type version
increase, such as "foo_1.1-1.1". If The new upload requires a new
upstream version, then the stable version should get "1.2-0.1", while
the unstable version is simultaneously (or previously) updated to
"1.2-1".

I'm interested in hearing corner cases, so that they can also be covered
in a sort of multi-upload-howto. IMO, stable updates are not frequent
enough that this would be really hard.

Ben

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