I have been packaging WebGUI [1] for my private usage for about two years now. WebGUI required a number of dependencies that were not in Debian, and I have worked as a member of the Debian Perl Packaging Team [2] in order to get the needed modules into Debian as they are now. I filed my ITP on webgui [3] and proceeded to polish the package, with the help of some folks in [2] and its now ready to go, but before uploading the package to Sid my sponsor asked me to clarify webgui's upgrade situation with debian-volatile and see if it fits the need of our users.
WebGUI always has two available versions: the stable one, currently 7.4.36, and the development one, currently 7.5.10. The development one eventually becomes stable, and the cycle repeats. I have packaged 7.4.36, and the target for Lenny is having the current stable WebGUI version, targeting 7.5.x for Lenny+1. Needless to say, upstream is _very_ happy about it and have been very helpful, with several of my patches making their way into 7.5.X and possibly backported to 7.4.Y if needed. Once a WebGUI version is declared stable (let's use 7.4.8 as an example) it receives bugfixes and security updates only (numbered 7.4.9, 7.4.10 and so on [4]). No new features nor new dependencies are added. This releases happen usually every other week, although sometimes you get more or less releases per month, and the upgrade path is provided by upstream: just un-tar the sources on top of the existing ones and then run an upgrade script that takes care of any database updating (if any). In my experience _most_ of the upgrades are related to functionality bugfixes and performance enhancements, they occasionally include security updates; as an example, 7.4.35 had a security update, and the prior one goes back to 7.4.14 (almost six months). Finally, when WebGUI switches the development branch to a stable status, the old-stable receives a final patch and an upgrade path is _guaranteed_ from the _last_ old-stable release to _any_ of the new-stable releases. This upgrade script is of course packaged, and documented both as a manpage and described in README.Debian; it just works... In my opinion, webgui stable upgrades should be handled in debian-volatile in general, thus allowing Debian users to have the latest revision of the stable version at any given time. If a security fix is released, volatile users would automatically have it available with the latest release, and I would contact debian-security to have a manually patched revision of the base package included in Debian Stable release. I would like to confirm if this opinion is correct, and any pointers to whatever I need to read/do next in order to finally get webgui into Debian main and debian-volatile repositories. Please CC me, since I'm not subscribed to the list. [1] http://www.webgui.org [2] http://pkg-perl.alioth.debian.org/ [3] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=471697 [4] http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=51417&package_id=45293 -- Ernesto Hernández-Novich - Linux 2.6.18 i686 - Unix: Live free or die! Geek by nature, Linux by choice, Debian of course. If you can't aptitude it, it isn't useful or doesn't exist. GPG Key Fingerprint = 438C 49A2 A8C7 E7D7 1500 C507 96D6 A3D6 2F4C 85E3 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
