Paul van der Vlis wrote: > >At least that's been the case including sarge. Hence, such > >a sentence would not mean anything. > > > >>I can understand something like "Debian releases when it's ready", but > >>many people have to work together. Maybe it's better to say: "a package > >>releases when it's ready, but the deadline for the next Debian release > >>is a fixed date". > > > >What if the installer is broken at that time? > > Normally a broken installer does not come into testing (ehm, I don't > know for sure the installer is a normal package).
During the preparation of sarge there was a long time where the installer didn't work as it should have. Go read the archives. > For me, installing was never a big problem. You can use an old installer > and update. And a special installation (e.g. on soft-raid) you can > install first somewhere else and then copy it. Installing an old version and upgrading to the current one is completely out of discussion for a release. You can always do that with stable and testing. If you can't install a stable release, it's broken. (Not to compare this with a failed installation of a super-mega-new piece of hardware that isn't supported by the kernel yet). > >What if the buildd network is busted at that time? > >What if n library transitions are in progress at that time? > >What if our archive suite lacks an important improvement which > > is a requirement for being able to maintain the new stable > > release? > > When there is a fixed deadline you can plan such things better to be > ready for the new release. Go read the archives. All three issues have happened during the last 12 months altough sarge was supposed to "be released in December". > >Oh I forgot: > > > >What if security support for a new release cannot be guaranteed at > > that time? > > Same answer. Go read the archives. That's something that has delayed the woody release and is delaying the release of sarge. Regards, Joey -- Life is a lot easier when you have someone to share it with. -- Sean Perry Please always Cc to me when replying to me on the lists.