[Mageia-dev] please stop doing "bugs" for updating magia 1

Thu Jan 12 10:27:59 CET 2012

On Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:05:34 +0200
+Buchan Milne <bgmilne at zarb.org> wrote:
+> 
+> An approach that doens't include a bug filed with the distribution means the 
+> user doesn't really seem interested in receiving an update from the 
+> distribution.
+
+Do note there are bugs that may go unnoticed by the user even though
+they are affected (for example if they have to do with resource
+consumption or subtle data corruption or other reliability stuff).
+
+> If you just want every new piece of software as soon as possible, you should 
+> run Cauldron.
+
+Obviously, that's not what I want.
+
+> 1)Why users who are not affected by some obscure bug (e.g. typo in a man page 
+> they will never read) should be forced to download unnecessary packages (at 
+> high cost in some cases)
+
+This is already the case. Regularly Mageia suggests me updates that I
+have not asked for since I have not filed a bug for them (and may not
+even be affected).
+
+Besides, your example is silly: I don't know of a software project that
+makes new releases only to fix typos in man pages. Bugfix releases *do*
+contain worthwhile fixes.
+
+> 2)How you will identify all upstreams which have a good history of bugfix-only 
+> releases, and how you will automate the selection of these packages to go to 
+> updates, and how you will streamline this process through QA.
+
+Each packager can decide if their upstream package is well-behaved or
+not. Of course, better be conservative and not package bugfix releases
+if you aren't totally confident. Still, some upstream teams *are*
+well-behaved.
+
+> Anyway, you seem to be of the assumption that all the contributors to the 
+> distribution you are using have so much more time on their hands than you do, 
+> while in actual fact I believe almost all contributors are *very* contstrained 
+> on time.
+
+Relying on upstream for bug fixes may actually free some of the time
+spent doing custom patching and testing. But I agree volunteer time is a
+big blocker in most open source projects.
+
+> If you don't think it is worth your time to help out, why should we 
+> waste time (which could be used to ensure the next release has all bugfixes) 
+> on new bugfix releases we don't need?
+
+Usually bugs are fixed for a reason (i.e. they affect someone
+somewhere). Why you think people don't need bug fixes is beyond me:
+Mageia users aren't, presumably, more stupid / more careless than users
+of other distributions.
+
+Regards
+
+Antoine.
+
+
+