Re: Bug#761219: debian-policy: document versioned Provides
On Fri, Mar 27, 2015, at 08:41, Niko Tyni wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 05:38:39PM -0300, Henrique de Moraes Holschuh
> wrote:
> > On Fri, 13 Mar 2015, David Prévot wrote:
> > > On Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 09:57:57PM +0300, Niko Tyni wrote:
> > > > dpkg 1.17.11 and apt 1.0.7 recently implemented support for versioned
> > > > provides.
> > > […]
> > > > This clearly needs an update. No proposed wording yet, sorry.
> > >
> > > Here is a simple one, stripping away the incorrect restriction. The
> > > consideration about versioned virtual package may evolve with the dpkg
> > > implementation, so I don’t believe it is worth it to document it in the
> > > policy, at least not right now anyway.
> >
> > Support for versioned provides is still too new: it is present only in
> > Jessie and unstable. This is a concern when dealing with backports.
>
> So how long do you propose we should wait before adopting new dpkg/apt
> features, if one release cycle isn't enough anymore?
IMO, at least three stable releases before policy can remove entirely
information that is relevant to past stable releases (because of the LTS
branches). I guess two stable releases might even be enough, but one
stable release is certainly too early.
Note that I don't care if we move information related to older stable
releases to footnotes to unclutter the main text, as long as we don't
remove it entirely.
Evidently, we can and should add or update information as soon as it is
stable enough: it is just a matter of doing it in a way that we still
document past behavior as well.
> FWIW I don't think the policy needs to change before jessie is
> released, but I don't think anybody was aiming for that anyway?
I have nothing against documenting that versioned provides is supported
by dpkg version XXXX in jessie and later, _and_ getting that updated
policy into jessie. In fact, I'd like it.
However, I have everything against NOT mentioning that versioned
provides are not supported before dpkg XXXX (i.e. cannot be used in
wheezy and earlier).
> > I'd recommend we change the current text, but not by removing the
> > restriction on versioned provides. Instead, mention that it does not exist
> > anymore since Debian jessie (dpkg 1.17.11 and newer).
>
> How about removing the restriction, but adding a footnote mentioning
> that support for versioned provides is still new, and care should be
> taken not to create needless complications on possible backports?
A footnote mentioning the dpkg version that implemented versioned
provides, and the stable release when it was first shipped would be
enough, as far as I'm concerned.
--
"One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@debian.org>
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