Re: core-updates merged!

[Thompson, David]

On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 11:46 AM, Ludovic Courtès <address@hidden> wrote:
> I've just merged core-updates in master, and Hydra has already built
> most of it.  So that brings glibc 2.19, grep 2.18, libgc 7.4, guile
> 2.0.11, bash 6.3, the ability to use directories as package sources
> (instead of tarballs), and a bunch of other updates and improvements.

bash 6.3?  Is this a typo or have I missed something?

>
> It's been more than 3 months between this merge and the previous one,
> which is probably too much.
>
> To avoid lingering branches, I think we should have a more formal,
> time-based process.  For instance, we would let the branch live for N
> months exactly, and freeze it at N months minus one week.
>
> GCC and glibc are released roughly every 6 months, but typically with a
> 3 month offset.  So I would go for N = 2 or N = 3.  Maybe N = 2 is
> better as it would allow us to make core improvements and small upgrades
> more often.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Thanks,
> Ludo'.
>

Merging core-updates every 2 months sounds reasonable to me, fwiw.
What are the potential downsides to frequently merging core-updates?
Too much package rebuilding?   Unstable software?  Just curious if
there are any good reasons for a more conservative approach.

- Dave