Bug#454498: 2.3.13 now available.

[Duncan Gibb]

Centurion Computer Technology (2005) Ltd wrote:

DG> What help would the Debian Cyrus Team most appreciate?

[I deliberately didn't copy my original message to the bug address,
since it was a rather general discussion.  But others have, so browsers
of the bugs database may wish to read
http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-cyrus-imapd-debian-devel/2008-December/002585.html
for context.]

OS> I see no sense to package cyrus-imapd 2.3 right now, it will
OS> not get into next stable, so sensible approach is to wait for
OS> lenny to release and after that move cyrus-imapd-2.3 to
OS> unstable

CCT> I disagree.  It should get into experimental ASAP and start
CCT> getting some work done so that by the time lenny releases,
CCT> we have it ready to move into unstable

I think both points of view can be accommodated.  We're already
producing, and will continue to maintain, unofficial 2.3 packages for
Etch and for Lenny, but it's unlikely we'll need binaries beyond amd64
and i386.  Of course it's too late even to think about official Lenny,
but maybe backports would carry 2.3 once it's in Sid...

2.3.8 is already in experimental, but incase's cyrus23 SVN branch hasn't
been touched for a year.  I'm guessing from the tiny volume of traffic
on the coordination list, and the quietness of the SVN repo that the
team don't have time to update to 2.3.13.  We've already done that, and
added a bunch of tweaks and new patches that suit _our_ needs.  We'd
love to see a 2.3 package set in official Debian that meets _everyone's_
needs.  We're willing to contribute existing code, people's time, SVN
servers, build hosts, etc, to help that happen.

How can we best do this?  Who else is doing the same things?


CCT> We are talking about a relatively well tested and stable
CCT> upstream source

My personal perception is that the upstream developers are mostly
dealing with large but fairly static installations (in universities), so
while they do care deeply about scalability and do drive some new
features, they don't hit as many corner cases or experience as much
demand for cool new shiny stuff as we do deploying mainly in the SME and
local government space.  But that's just my excuse for all the patches
we put in ;-)  "Stable" in this context can mean "slow-moving"...


Cheers


Duncan

-- 
Duncan Gibb, Technical Director
Sirius Corporation plc - The Open Source Experts
http://www.siriusit.co.uk/
Tel: +44 870 608 0063