Testing test releases: do not update

[Lamar Owen]

On Friday 27 February 2004 3:29 am, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Feb 2004, Mike A. Harris wrote:
> > Rawhide *is* the updates repository.  What is in rawhide *IS*
> > what will be in the final OS.

> does this mean that a package showing up in rawhide represents a
> *commitment* that it will be in the next release (be it test or official)?

No.  Rawhide has no commitments.  You should have seen Rawhide prior to the 
release of Red Hat 7.3.  Seeing gcc 3 go in, then come back out, was an 
eye-popper.  Many people did see it, and confusion was all over the place on 
the public lists.  Those 'in the know' were even more taken aback.

> surely, there must be the option that, if such a package represents a
> complete disaster, RH will back off and revert back to an older, working
> release, no?

Yes.  Packages get retrograded.

>  but if the newer version was already in rawhide for a while,
> folks will undoubtedly have downloaded it and begun testing it, and
> because of the update process, they're stuck with that newer version until
> the next snapshot.  is that about right?  does this have any sub-optimal
> consequences?  just curious.

Yes, it has 'suboptimal' consequences.  You can't guarantee update.  Again, 
prior to RH 7.3, when Rawhide had gcc 3 in it, then was reverted to gcc 2.96, 
lots of things broke.  Ask Jonathan Kamens about it.  Rawhide is not ever 
guaranteed to update to anything else ever.  Period.  It is just where 
development is *right now* and that's all.  JIK regularly and constantly 
tracks (or used to track) Rawhide, and posted about it regularly.

> 1) the proposed next release, and
> 2) the source of really cool, new, bleeding edge stuff

With Fedora, 1=2.

> put another way, is rawhide ever allowed to get ahead of what's planned
> for the next release?

Yes.  Then before release Rawhide slows down and 'chills' to an extent.
-- 
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu