Re: Zsh on Debian is beginning to rot

[Axel Beckert <abe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Vincent,

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 01:59:32PM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> On 2012-09-10 10:56:38 +0200, Michael Prokop wrote:
> > *If* subversion 1.7 is targeted for wheezy (pointers to release
> > exceptions please)

There is no freeze exception for Subversion. But the opposite exists:
[1] says: "Not touching package due to block request" -- so the Debian
Release Team explicitly prevents Subversion 1.7 to migrate to Testing
currently. I don't expect this to change.

  [1] http://qa.debian.org/excuses.php?package=subversion

> > then we will try to care of the svn completion.
> 
> Well, unstable (sid) is still affected, and I don't see why different
> rules should be applied to subversion and zsh.

During the freeze it is preferred that updates to Testing happen via
an upload to unstable. So if we upload 5.0.0 to Unstable, we hurt
ourselves if he have to fix an important bug in 4.3.17 from testing
afterwards. The same may count for uploading a 4.3.17 with a fix for
Subversion 1.7 (but would be easier to revert).

There is a side-channel for such cases via an upload
testing-proposed-updates, but according to the freeze policy[2] for
Debian Wheezy this is only an option for release-critical bugs (i.e.
those of the severities "serious", "grave" or "critical"), but not for
bugs which just have the severity "important".

  [2] http://release.debian.org/wheezy/freeze_policy.html

That's why during the freeze for a new stable release we and most
other Debian maintainers upload new upstream versions or stuff only
relevant for Unstable just to Experimental and not to Unstable.

(And yes, Subversion updates for Testing are only possible via
testing-proposed-updates. But that's not our team's problem.)

If you think that's the wrong approach please have a look at [3]
(keywords CUT and Rolling) and help to make that idea becoming
reality.

  [3] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2011/06/msg00136.html

> 1. The freeze just prevents unstable packages from entering testing,
>    in which case it would be OK to make zsh 5.0.0 enter unstable (sid)

If you want that fixed in your Unstable installation, add the
Experimental repository and install zsh from there.

> The idea is to keep zsh synchronized with Subversion incompatible
> changes at every level.

No, the idea is to make the next Debian stable release as stable as
possible and therefore to not put any tripping hazard in its way.
Everything else is subject to Debian Experimental until the freeze is
over.

		Kind regards, Axel
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