Hi, davecode-Nbr/4NovP0l9pMjJd8zWoA@public.gmane.org: > > we'd never release ~arch tarballs > I'm talking testing, you're thinking stable... > Testers by definition do not want old stuff. The reason they are > testing is they want new stuff. Yes, they understand the risk. In > Debian they use "unstable" and "experimental" branches. We have to think of people that install the first time or rely on having a stable system, they need arch as it is tested. A fixed and tested status has the pro of having less problems for Newbies. > > I think your idea of how Gentoo releases work is a bit skewed. > > Everything comes from stable. Always. > I'm not clear how I said otherwise? Well, okay, straighten me out ... > My understanding is > * Gentoo has two parallel ongoing branches, arch and ~arch Correct. > * ~arch has more recent packages than arch but less stability Correct. > * both branches keep upgrading over time with bug/security/feature > fixes Correct. This is done by teams per architecture, have a look at . > * the only stage3 tarballs that exist are for the previous mega public > release Correct. > * Gentoo releng team plants a pole in the ground and ~arch becomes > arch "beta" No. There is a snapshot taken which contains the packages stable at the moment of shooting. > * arch "beta" quickly turns into arch-stable, while a new ~arch forks > ahead We don't have an immediate switch, the parts of the tree move constantly and at different speeds. > Rolling tarballs for both arch and ~arch together is no more work than > one or the other. It would be the same automated stuff. Problems that occur one day might blow support...so those automated stages need to be unsupported and we would win nothing out of it. V-Li -- Christian Faulhammer, Gentoo Lisp project , #gentoo-lisp on FreeNode