Re: [gentoo-user] How packages are made stable - suggestion for improvement

["Andrey Gerasimenko" <gak@kaluga.ru>]

On Sat, 06 Jan 2007 04:24:58 +0300, David Relson  
<relson@osagesoftware.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 17:23:51 -0700
> Steve Dibb wrote:
>
>
> I've been reading this thread as well as the earlier (July) threads
> (from gmane) and notice that everyone is discussing "30 days",
> "automatic", and "stabilization bugs".  What if there were 2 time
> periods - a minimum and a maximum.  For example:
>
> with a 30 day min, a package would have to be bug free for 30 days
> before a stabilization bug _could_ be acted upon.
>
> If there are no open bugs and no stabilization bug was submitted , then
> a maximum period (perhaps 60 days, perhaps 6 months) would cause an
> _automatic_ upgrade to stable.
>
> Having an acceptably large max period would take some of the load off
> of developer shoulders and would prevent the current situation of having
> really old ~ARCH packges (some of which currently seem to measure in
> the hundreds of days).
>
> Just my $.02
>
> David

The problem is that currently all that is stable has been marked so by a  
human being. Adding any automation to the process will change the meaning  
of "stable". I feel that the change will be substantial, like the  
difference between a Google search result and a report from an analyst.

My feeling is that the major part of the users is happy with what we have  
now, that is

- the most stable system that can be constructed with ARCH
- the most recent possibly usable system with ~ARCH
- the most recent system we know about with masked

Looking at the list, I feel that the key points on the "stable - unstable"  
axis has been marked. Thus, I do not really want to move any of the  
markers, especially the stable one, since it will be bad for those who  
need a really stable system.

My $0.02 is that there are 3 options:

- do nothing, possibly explain the meaning of arch, ~arch, and masked  
better in the docs.
- add a new level of stability, like ^ARCH, and move from ~ARCH to ^ARCH  
automatically.
- encourage development of tools that will make it easier to maintain  
"stable - unstable - deliberately outdated" mixture. Such a tool may,  
among other things, request the list of ~arch packages together with the  
number of days there are no unresolved bug reports other than version bump  
and stabilize.

----
Andrei Gerasimenko
-- 
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