We have recently set a policy for the minimum version required to build WebKitGTK+. I would like to set a policy also for the versions used internally in the jhbuild using for testing.
The currently non-written rule is that when we notice that a new version of a dependency fixes a bug or a test, we bump the required version, otherwise we keep the same versions. This conservative approach is very convenient because we don't need to do major rebaselines very often, but it has several disadvantages: - When a new version of a dependency introduces a bug, the bots don't notice it, but users do. This has happened several times with GStreamer for example. - Newer code that depends on newer version of a dependency, is not tested at all. - Our tests are far from what users actually use, we should ensure that what we test is closer to what most users will find. - Some people use the internal jhbuild also to build WebKitGTK+ and other applications depending on it, like Epiphany. That's not recommended at all, the internal jhbuild is only useful to "ensure" same layout tests results, but it doesn't make sense to use Epiphany with moder WebKitGTk+ linking with old versions of GTK+, GLib, Cairo, etc. So, for all these reasons I think we should use the latest stable version of all our dependencies. It's still possible that we can break something for an older version of a dependency and bots won't notice it, but that won't affect most of the users, so better catch erros with the modern versions. My proposal is to update the dependencies all together once every release cycle, to avoid having to rebaseline several times, and then following our current approach, bumping a version only when required to fix a test. The update could be at the beginning of the cycle, before making the first unstable release, but right after the second stable, so that we will use .1 version of our deps following the GNOME schedule. But for this to work we need to reduce the amount of failing tests in the bots, otherwise rebaselines are going to be a nightmare. So, Michael proposed to try to do an extra gardening effort for a month, to drastically reduce the failures, ideally making the bots green, and then do the first upgrade. Opinions? -- Carlos Garcia Campos http://pgp.rediris.es:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xF3D322D0EC4582C3
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