On 2/2/26 16:54, Noah Meyerhans wrote:
On Mon, Feb 02, 2026 at 10:37:01AM +0300, Michael Tokarev wrote:
Please consider updating dovecot in trixie to current
upstream release 2.4.2. This is a stable/bugfix release,
there should be no problems updating to it in trixie.
Unfortunately, the switch to libpcre for the regex processor has
introduced some behavior changes. See
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1121519. It's likely
that widespread migration to 2.4.2 in a stable point release would
trigger additional such reports. (Whether or not the new behavior
constitutes a regression is another matter.) So I do not believe a
stable update would be appropriate.
I weren't aware of this change. With this change in mind, yes, it is
a good reason NOT to push 2.4.2 to trixie.
BTW, you can do it other way around: package 2.4.2 for trixie and revert
that particular pcre change to keep it compatible with the trixie
behavior. That'd be fun though.
It's interesting to note though - that the more 2.4.1 version is in use,
the more people will use the old regex syntax, so the more people will
be affected when upgrading to forky. I found this whole situation a
bit fun.
..
Given the above, I expect to continue backporting fixes for 2.4.1 while
trixie is stable. Do you have any specific fixes you're looking for, or
is this a general request?
No, unfortunately not. I see my dovecot in trixie is crashing (rarely
but surely), and my questions to upstream about this got suggestions to
upgrade to the current version (2.4.2) only, so far. Yes, I'll try to
install 2.4.2 (debian package in forky built for trixie) just to see if
it changes this particular problem. Debugging were not successful so
far, either.
> As trixie-backports is not intended to be a mechanism for addressing
> bugs in trixie, I don't agree that the changes to the dovecot packages
> in forky belong there. As you say, they're all fixes.
I'm not about fixing bugs in trixie using backports, - it is not what I
mean. It is more about staying "future-compatible", using particular
features which current packaged version does not provide. And pcre
in sieve might be one such example too - to keep users sieve scripts
upgrade-to-fokry-proof, so to say :)
Since I already rebuilt forky package for trixie (essentially creating
a backport), I might as well upload it to the debian archive - since it
is already sort of useful for me (if not just to verify if the bug I'm
facing is still there or not).
Either way, I'm not uploading it just yet, let's see about the bug.
If it's fixed in 2.4.2, we can pick up that particular change to trixie.
Thanks,
/mjt
