Re: Versions by Debian release
On Thu, Dec 25, 2003 at 12:03:28AM -0500, Paul M Foster wrote:
> I had a problem with X that I posted earlier this week to this list. I
> didn't receive any replies, and I had a feeling that the only answer was
> going to be upgrading xserver-xfree86 from the version I was running
> under stable. I did an apt-get update and apt-get --dry-run install
> xserver-xfree86. From the output, it looked like this would break a few
> things, which I didn't want. (I recently went from testing to stable in
> order to be able to run KDE.)
>
> So I went to xfree86.org and downloaded the latest source. I compiled
> and installed. This fixed my X problem, and didn't break anything under
> stable.
>
> Now the question is: If I could do this, then why haven't we backported
> X (version 4.3) to stable? I suspect the answer is that versions of
> packages under stable are never changed. My question is: Why is this? If
> we can increment the package versions in stable without breaking things,
> why don't we? Why are package versions inviolate? Every few months, we
> put out revisions to stable anyway.
>
> Paul
>
This is an absolutely unofficial answer to the question as to why not
upgrade within stable: The very fact that the upgrade solved your
problem indicates that it is significantly different from the current
version in stable. It might very well break something in some other
persons Debian box. That person would rightly complain that Debian
stable is not really stable. Change is not always good. In a stable
shop, every change must be tested before it is accepted, regardless of
the reputation of the Debian organization.
I, personally, am not capable of backporting, but if you want to learn,
you could contribute a backport of X, and go on to contribute backports
of other software that you find useful. As a backport, it would be
available to others to use if they wish, but it would not upset the
lives who have stable systems working to their satisfaction. These
people are usually only interested in upgrades that are security hole
fixes.
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@peakpeak.com
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