Re: stable vs. testing: same versions, different status

["Michael S. Gilbert" <michael.s.gilbert@gmail.com>]

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:12:44 +0200, Francesco Poli wrote:
> How can we make sure that those Debian patches, as long as they are
> still needed, are retained for new upstream versions, when they are
> packaged?

this is mostly a matter of trusting the maintainer to do the requisite
background work (applying patches from the old version if they are still
relevant) when preparing a new upstream version.  this isn't
policyified, but one would also hope that other maintainers/users are
reviewing the changes to make sure regressions don't happen.

> Moreover, how can we make sure that packages fixed in stable and
> testing, but not in unstable, get fixed in unstable too, before a new
> version migrates from unstable to testing?
> Maybe by filing appropriate RC bugs?

yes, if unstable is missing a security fix that is in the testing
or stable packages, then that is a regression, and a serious bug should
be filed.

mike