From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: a07f3367d7,18e1c2a3dc43651f X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,public,usenet X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Received: by 10.66.74.6 with SMTP id p6mr1654667pav.5.1345391259440; Sun, 19 Aug 2012 08:47:39 -0700 (PDT) Path: g9ni105286733pbo.0!nntp.google.com!news.glorb.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx04.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Ludovic Brenta Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Debian Family, GNAT version map Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2012 17:49:10 +0200 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Message-ID: <87txvyopah.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> References: <109c5cee-48ba-442e-b53f-cfd37995cc2d@googlegroups.com> <87harz84r3.fsf@ludovic-brenta.org> <4783e98d-2473-4525-9172-bc663574054a@googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Injection-Info: mx04.eternal-september.org; posting-host="b75c23c5112d39a978b8bf0a076fe226"; logging-data="8650"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/yhV0pSc+C1DHyzQ2nGq4e" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:UkcaVIQwBGUR2FgZ0P7ApDrzL+s= sha1:gfwVa6UfGstpA+Gv4USgWCyuQDE= Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: 2012-08-19T17:49:10+02:00 List-Id: Patrick writes on comp.lang.ada: > I was hoping you would reply :) > > So I did as you had suggested and ran dpkg -l gnat*. > > I am on Xubuntu(I am planning on switching) and I got this: > > > :dpkg -l gnat* > Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold > | Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend > |/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad) > ||/ Name Version Description > +++-==============-==============-============================================ > ii gnat 4.6ubuntu1 GNU Ada compiler > ii gnat-4.6 4.6.3-1ubuntu4 GNU Ada compiler > ii gnat-4.6-base 4.6.3-1ubuntu4 GNU Ada compiler (common files) > ii gnat-gps 5.0-6 integrated development environment for C and > ii gnat-gps-commo 5.0-6 integrated development environment for C and > ii gnat-gps-doc 5.0-6 integrated development environment for C and [I removed the lines concerning packages not installed on your system] > The part here that worries me is the 4.6.3-1ubuntu4 portion. I am > guessing other downstream Debian derivatives do not just take the > prebuilt "debian-debian" binaries wholesale but instead recompile the > sources again. Not only that, they also occasionally change the sources; that's why they introduce a new version number. The other potential problem with derivatives is their disregard for the release cycles of Debian. I plan and do all of my work so that each *stable* release of Debian contains a consistent and (as far as feasible) bug-free Ada platform. However, between releases, there is no guarantee that the packages in Debian *unstable* or *testing* are consistent with one another. This is particularly true between the time I upload a new gnat (the first package in a transition) and the time I upload gnat-gps (usually the last package in a transition because it depends on many other packages). So, if a derivative distribution takes a "snapshot" of Debian unstable, what you get might really be very... unstable. FYI, here is what I have on my Debian testing, upgraded today: ii gnat 4.6 GNU Ada compiler ii gnat-4.6 4.6.3-5 GNU Ada compiler ii gnat-4.6-base 4.6.3-5 GNU Ada compiler (common files) ii gnat-4.6-sjlj 4.6.3-5 GNU Ada compiler (setjump/longjump runtime library) ii gnat-gps 5.0-12 integrated development environment for C and Ada ii gnat-gps-common 5.0-12 integrated development environment for C and Ada (common files) ii gnat-gps-dbg 5.0-12 integrated development environment for C and Ada (debugging symbols) ii gnat-gps-doc 5.0-12 integrated development environment for C and Ada (documentation) > It may be hard to know if the package is now the same as the 4.6.3 > Debian version. If the packager had trouble with something they could > modify something and introduce bugs. No, it's not hard to know. If the version number is different then the package is different. Read /usr/share/doc/gnat-4.6/changelog.Debian.gz to know what the downstream packager changed. > Do you have any suggestions on how to track combat version skewing or > is this largely a non-issue? Ubuntu has introduced subtle problems in the past but recent releases have been fairly solid AFAICS. I cannot be positive because I receive almost no feedback from Ubuntu users or packagers. So, use Debian stable and stop worrying about forced upgrades :) You can also use Debian testing part of the time (i.e. before a transition starts and after it is complete). Usually I announce the transition starts and ends here on comp.lang.ada and on debian-ada@lists.debian.org. > It would be pretty easy for me to set up a bunch of distros under > VirtualBox and then run dpkg -l gnat* on them but I guess it may not > be that easy... VirtualBox is overkill, you can use chroot instead, see http://lists.debian.org/debian-ada/2010/02/msg00003.html for a recipe. -- Ludovic Brenta.