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Re: Proposal: incremental release process (the package pool)



Lalo, it sounds like branches of packages may be appropriate in the pool.

You will have the default branch which apt will choose the latest version from
normally, and then you have alternate branches, which a user will have to
specify explicitely to have them installed.
 eg. dpkg may have the official releases and experimental branches.

Use of branches will be discouraged except in certain circumstances.

The packages, however, should be exactly like the other packages and could
change from branch to branch without requiring a new upload.

It could mean that if someone has a really dodgy release that they do want to
be in the pool for testing - they could, and just ask people specifically to
test it (or let them decide for themselves, based on the branch name).  It
would be a perk for developers living in the pool, imho.

Also, it could potentially provide virtual staging areas for packages - if
apt's current dependency checking system won't suffice.

Regards,
	Rob.

> I like this proposal. But I'd list the difference as:
> 
> this is more automated, mine is more maintainer-driven.
> 
> More automated usually means less control, but this case leaves
> enought control.
> 
> The problem with this ``much simpler'' approach is that it is
> in fact ``much more complex'' implementation-wise; it requires:
> 
> - the promotion automation program
> 
> - fixing the BTS to tie bugs to versions (so that the program
> can know that the bug is on the ``unstable'' version, not on
> the one in ``testing'')
> 
> It requires more code. If this code was around, _and_ if we can
> still have multiple versions of a same package in unstable
> which I think is a good idea anyway, then I'd be glad to vote
> for this one.

-- 
------------------------------------
 Robert Thomson -- Just call me Sir -=|   UNIX is user friendly.  |=-
  c9805651@alinga.newcastle.edu.au  -=| It's just selective about |=-
        I prefer GNU/Linux	    -=|    who its friends are.   |=-
------------------------------------
"Linux system administrators must spend huge amounts of time understanding
 the latest Linux bugs and determining what to do about them." 
 - NT admins have given up.


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