On 16 Aug 1999, Manoj Srivastava wrote: > Whatever happened to the idea of having pools of package > (presented by aj)? The idea was that packages always be uploaded to > an unstable ``pool'' of packages. After meeting vertain criteria > (minimuym time in unstable with no bugs, or no important bugs, > indication from maintainer that they are ready to be moved from the > unstable ppool), they would be moved to a staging area (that would > allow packages to be moved only when dependencies are all satisfied). > Then, packages are moved from the staging area to the stable pool.
I think a 'testing and staging' area would be good for _most_ uploads. Just as there is a bug-tracking system, an easy means of providing positive feedback on these uploads would help. A developer would have more confidence in his package before allowing it to enter the stable and/or unstable trees. Maybe this would help reduce the number of open bug reports on packages in stable and unstable. There are some simple questions that could be put on a form that would eliminate some of the main reasons a package should not be installed in either the stable or unstable tree. One that I have run into a few times is when the package will only install cleanly if a previous version is installed. Sometimes the opposite - have to purge the old one first. It would really help a developer if he could upload to an area that means "please test this and let me know what happens". pw
