Re: [DEB-USER] Re: Versions by Debian release

2003-12-26 Thread Paul M Foster
On Thu, Dec 25, 2003 at 07:45:42PM -0800, Paul Johnson wrote:

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 On Thu, Dec 25, 2003 at 12:03:28AM -0500, Paul M Foster wrote:
  Now the question is: If I could do this, then why haven't we backported
  X (version 4.3) to stable?
 
 If you had googled, you would have found apt-get.org, which has
 sources for backported XF86.

Thanks for the tip; I wouldn't have known what to google for. I've heard
of repositories of non-Debian-blessed packages, but I couldn't find any
links to them on the Debian site.

But again, the question remains unanswered. Why won't _Debian_ rev the
version number for packages in stable after packages have been tested?

Paul


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Re: Versions by Debian release

2003-12-25 Thread Paul E Condon
On Thu, Dec 25, 2003 at 12:03:28AM -0500, Paul M Foster wrote:
 I had a problem with X that I posted earlier this week to this list. I
 didn't receive any replies, and I had a feeling that the only answer was
 going to be upgrading xserver-xfree86 from the version I was running
 under stable. I did an apt-get update and apt-get --dry-run install
 xserver-xfree86. From the output, it looked like this would break a few
 things, which I didn't want. (I recently went from testing to stable in
 order to be able to run KDE.)
 
 So I went to xfree86.org and downloaded the latest source. I compiled
 and installed. This fixed my X problem, and didn't break anything under
 stable.
 
 Now the question is: If I could do this, then why haven't we backported
 X (version 4.3) to stable? I suspect the answer is that versions of
 packages under stable are never changed. My question is: Why is this? If
 we can increment the package versions in stable without breaking things,
 why don't we? Why are package versions inviolate? Every few months, we
 put out revisions to stable anyway.
 
 Paul
 

This is an absolutely unofficial answer to the question as to why not
upgrade within stable: The very fact that the upgrade solved your
problem indicates that it is significantly different from the current
version in stable. It might very well break something in some other 
persons Debian box. That person would rightly complain that Debian
stable is not really stable.  Change is not always good. In a stable
shop, every change must be tested before it is accepted, regardless of
the reputation of the Debian organization.

I, personally, am not capable of backporting, but if you want to learn,
you could contribute a backport of X, and go on to contribute backports
of other software that you find useful. As a backport, it would be 
available to others to use if they wish, but it would not upset the
lives who have stable systems working to their satisfaction. These
people are usually only interested in upgrades that are security hole
fixes. 


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Paul E Condon   
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Re: Versions by Debian release

2003-12-25 Thread Paul Johnson
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

On Thu, Dec 25, 2003 at 12:03:28AM -0500, Paul M Foster wrote:
 Now the question is: If I could do this, then why haven't we backported
 X (version 4.3) to stable?

If you had googled, you would have found apt-get.org, which has
sources for backported XF86.

- -- 
 .''`. Paul Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
: :'  :
`. `'` proud Debian admin and user
  `-  Debian - when you have better things to do than fix a system
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Versions by Debian release

2003-12-24 Thread Paul M Foster
I had a problem with X that I posted earlier this week to this list. I
didn't receive any replies, and I had a feeling that the only answer was
going to be upgrading xserver-xfree86 from the version I was running
under stable. I did an apt-get update and apt-get --dry-run install
xserver-xfree86. From the output, it looked like this would break a few
things, which I didn't want. (I recently went from testing to stable in
order to be able to run KDE.)

So I went to xfree86.org and downloaded the latest source. I compiled
and installed. This fixed my X problem, and didn't break anything under
stable.

Now the question is: If I could do this, then why haven't we backported
X (version 4.3) to stable? I suspect the answer is that versions of
packages under stable are never changed. My question is: Why is this? If
we can increment the package versions in stable without breaking things,
why don't we? Why are package versions inviolate? Every few months, we
put out revisions to stable anyway.

Paul


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