[Mark Farnell] > To address this problem, I am thinking about a possible framework for > official debian backport to the current stable release: > > - to create a backport repository of the most recent packages on > testing that have significant improvements / addition of important > functions to the public (e.g. openoffice 2.0, wine 0.9, firefox 1.5 > (when it is officially released), PHP 5 etc.) The nature of Debian's archives and tools (apt, in particular) makes it very easy to do this sort of thing without being especially affiliated with the Project at all. If you feel the need to compete with backports.org, dotdeb.org, apt-get.org and other such sites, there is no need to arrange to use the official mirror network. You can even release CD images if you wish, along with normal package updates and security updates. Also, the update candidates are, of course, inherently subjective. Some people will care much more about, for example, Linux 2.6.14 or subversion 1.3.0 (not yet released) than they ever will about PHP 5. Last time someone tried to do an "official backport release" like what you're describing, it was known as slink-and-a-half, and apparently never was actually blessed by the Project. (My memory fails me concerning the details, and I'm too lazy to look them up, but if you are interested in this field, I'm sure "slink-and-a-half" is quite googlable.) > What do you think about the feasibility of such a backport framework I think people in Debian-land use the word "framework" far too often. But that's neither here nor there. I also think competing with backports.org et al is something you should do outside the Project, until you've demonstrated advantages over these other repositories. Alternatively, you could work *with* them.
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