On Sun, Oct 17, 2004 at 11:33:49AM +0200, Andreas Barth wrote: > * Martin Schulze ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [041017 11:20]: > > Andreas Barth wrote: > > > * Henning Makholm ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [041011 18:30]: > > > > The goal should be that I, as a user, can add volatile to my > > > > sources.list and periodically do an apt-get upgrade - without risking > > > > to suddenly have my web browser updated to a new major release where > > > > it starts behaving differently, all my users' preferences get out of > > > > kilter, etc. > > > > I think this is one of the most important statements - and I think it > > > describes our policy quite well. > > > > > > I could however see the possiblity to add a new package "mozilla1.7", > > > that users can optionally install. However, I also won't like it. > > > Please be very careful with packages like these. It may require a > > new version of libfoo1 and libbar2g and libbaz0g etc. which people > > may accidently install, which in turn can hurt them in other areas > > and contribute "strange" bug reports. > > As soon as it requires new versions of some libraries, this is a no-go. > People who want it may go to backports.org or so. Perhaps we may add an > news item on volatiles page about that then. > > The main word is "above all, do no harm". The default action is to not > add something. >
Indeed, I think that major interests in volatile are about beta-quality software released in stable. A major upgrade would allow to use a 'sane' version which in turn should not require many library changes at all. I'm thinking to the pre-1.0 version of mozilla in woody: upgrading to a sane 1.0 version in stable by volatile could be considered, solving many functional problems and being a sane (and safe) possibility. Other major upgrades (e.g. mozilla-current) are backports.org concerns. We have currently a few software of large use in those conditions, e.g. firefox/thunderbird (but note that those programs are really in better conditions in respect with the old woody mozilla) -- Francesco P. Lovergine
