Re: [gentoo-dev] Keeping older versions around

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 10:33 PM, Ryan Hill <dirtyepic@gentoo.org> wrote:
> When you bump
> to a new ~arch version, please consider keeping at least one previous ~arch
> version around, so if people run into major issues they can at lease try the
> previously installed version to determine if it's your package at fault.

I mostly run stable and when I have to pull in the odd ~arch package
it seems like for some of them I'm re-keywording them every third day.
 The stable version doesn't change in 9 months, and the unstable one
changes 47 times, with old versions being dropped instantly so I have
no choice but to move along or risk having a security bug that won't
get GLSA'ed.

Also, if we don't keep unstable versions around there isn't any way to
get them stabilized, making stable more stale.

If a particular unstable version is particularly buggy or otherwise
not something upstream supports then it makes sense to move on.
However, everything has some level of bugs (if you look hard enough)
and if they're pretty minor then we should be asking ourselves if it
is better or worse than the current stable, and if not then it should
be left around if possible as a stable candidate.  Obviously use
common sense.  If we can afford our users the luxury of upgrading at
their leisure we should do so.

Rich