Re: Exclude parts of a package

[Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@stephe-leake.org>]

Marius Amado-Alves <amado.alves@gmail.com> writes:

>> When you fix a bug in version 1.0, propagate the changes to 1.1 ...
>
> Somehow I find this strange. Potential regressive effects in 1.1
> Usually the bugs are fixed in the last version. What am I missing? Any
> pointers, maybe to literature, appreciated.

I assume _all_ software has bugs.

You stated that you want to distribute multiple versions of a package,
some older than others.

So you are going to get bug reports on 1.0.

You can say "upgrade to 1.x, where this is fixed". But you have to
assume there are strong reasons they have not _already_ upgraded to 1.x,
so that's not likely to be a good solution.

So you should be prepared to release 1.0.x, with bug fixes. For example,
Debian supports security releases of the most recent old Debian release;
they include fixes for security-related bugs.

Any bugs that are found in version 1.0 after 1.1 ... are released may
still exist in 1.1, or they may have been fixed.

So 1.1 ... should be examined to see if the bug is still there. In order
to avoid completely re-implementing the fix, use the CM tools to
propagate the bug fix, along with the test fix for it.

(my solution to this issue for my packages is to simply not support old
versions in any way)

-- 
-- Stephe