On 09/29/2011 01:55 PM, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> Hi, Gentoo!
>
> Why are there so many packages whose versions never become stable? By
> "many", I mean here at least two. :-)
>
> These are the kernel and Firefox.
>
> My kernel is currently 2.6.39-gentoo-r3, built on July 18. By examining
> ebuilds, I now see that the ~amd64 is already up to 3.0.4-r1. I've
> missed 3.0.[0-3], it seems.
>
> My Firefox is on 3.6.20. Firefox 4 and 5 never became stable, and their
> ebuilds have disappeared already. Firefox 6 is still ~amd64.

It's rare that maintainers will support more than one stable version
just because of the extra work involved. So, if e.g. version 2.1 of
package foo is stable, 2.0 might as well be removed from the tree,
especially if it was ~arch.

Some versions never get moved from ~arch to stable because if there's a
newer version available, it makes sense to concentrate on stabilizing
that one instead.

Firefox (>= 4) and the kernel (>= 3) are special cases, already
explained by Michael Mol.

Il 29/09/2011 20:56, Michael Orlitzky ha scritto:

Firefox (>= 4) and the kernel (>= 3) are special cases, already
explained by Michael Mol.


I know of the problems with 3.x kernels, but what's the problem with
firefox?

2011/9/29 Niccolò Belli <darkbasic@linuxsystems.it>:
> Il 29/09/2011 20:56, Michael Orlitzky ha scritto:
>>
>> Firefox (>= 4) and the kernel (>= 3) are special cases, already
>> explained by Michael Mol.
>
> I know of the problems with 3.x kernels, but what's the problem with
> firefox?

Upstream underwent a massive shift in their release pattern which
results in a great deal more work for anyone who needs to vet the
software before it gets redistributed. The ebuild maintainer hasn't
rolled with that, at least not yet. No idea whether he/she will or
won't. Not something I know the particulars of.

--
:wq

Il 29/09/2011 21:38, Michael Mol ha scritto:

Upstream underwent a massive shift in their release pattern which
results in a great deal more work for anyone who needs to vet the
software before it gets redistributed.


No, they don't: there will be long term support releases suitable for
distros.


Cheers,
Niccolò