tl;dr: should we update buster to Xen 4.12 (currently, 4.12-RC2) ? Hi. I hope you will be able to answer this question before we prepare a proposed updated package (and certainly without us uploading the package to unstable, since we want to keep unstable for updates to buster).
Xen upstream is currently in the 2nd week of the freeze for Xen 4.12. sid/buster currently have 4.11. Upstream quality in 4.12 seems reasonable (and comparable to that of the Xen 4.11) we have. It is very likely that Xen 4.12 will be finally released well before Debian buster. For stretch, we put a Xen 4.8 RC in before the Debian freeze, and updated it to the 4.8 release later. IIRC there was no need for a formal exception. For buster the timings are less favourable. In particular, we would need an exception from the transition freeze. I don't anticipate any difficulties with that - the upstream API has not really changed significantly and there are not that many packages involved. The principal upside would be an additional 6 months of upstream security support. Other improvements in Xen 4.12 include better support for the new PVH guest mode; these and other improvements are incremental rather than revolutionary. Please could you advise whether this update is something you generally favour ? If so then we will prepare a suitable update and check that the library transition is fine for all the the rdepends, and then return with a formal freeze exception request. We do not expect to need any significant changes to the packaging. A whole package debdiff is not likely to be very illuminating because there will be a fair few upstream changes. Regards, Ian. -- Ian Jackson <[email protected]> These opinions are my own. If I emailed you from an address @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk, that is a private address which bypasses my fierce spamfilter.
