When do experimental packages turn stable?

[Hauke Fath]

Hi,

I recently ran into a gnu emacs compat issue[*] that I learned has been
dealt with in fsf-compat 1.24. Looking through /pub/packages, I found
1.19. Grovelling deeper, I came across /pub/beta/experimental/packages,
which indeed has 1.24.

My question: What is the relationship between the two directories? When
do "experimental" packages move to /pub/packages? And, with my pkgsrc
hat on: Under which circumstances would it be fine to package the
content of /pub/beta/experimental/packages?

Cheerio,
hauke


[*] vc-fossil.el
<http://chiselapp.com/user/venks/repository/emacs-fossil/doc/tip/doc/index.wiki>
wanting declare-function

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Post by Hauke Fath
My question: What is the relationship between the two directories?

An "experimental" package is uploaded when the maintainer of the
particular package says it's ready to be uploaded. It's a beta test
area; Lisp packages tend to interact with each other in very complex
ways, and refactoring bugs (disappearing variables that other packages
use, and so on) are often caught soon after a release, but aren't
always fixed quickly.

Post by Hauke Fath
When do "experimental" packages move to /pub/packages?

In theory, when the project's package czar (currently Norbert Koch)
decides to. At present we're in a space bind. I need to get some
round tuits, make sure that everything is backed up (I had a system
crash a while back so I *should* have copies of everything
*somewhere*, but I need to find them -- they're on disconnected disks
that I need to find a place to mount), and then once I make space
everything currently in experimental will move to stable.

Post by Hauke Fath
And, with my pkgsrc hat on: Under which circumstances would it be
fine to package the content of /pub/beta/experimental/packages?

Right now, everything has gotten all the beta testing it's going to
get, so you can just package it from experimental. Once the packaging
workflow restarts, you'll have to make a decision about how much risk
you're willing to take on behalf of your users. Probably Norbert
<***@xemacs.org> has the best idea of how often bugs that require a
repackaging before moving to stable occur.

HTH

Steve

[Hauke Fath]

Post by Stephen J. Turnbull
Right now, everything has gotten all the beta testing it's going to
get, so you can just package it from experimental. Once the packaging
workflow restarts, you'll have to make a decision about how much risk
you're willing to take on behalf of your users. [...]

Thanks for the thorough explanation - and good luck in your hunt for
round tuits. :)

Post by Stephen J. Turnbull
HTH

Very much so!

Cheerio,
hauke