[php-maint] Bug#750682: [php5] Experimental warning in NEWS.Debian

[Filipus Klutiero]

Package: php5
Version: 5.6.0~beta3+dfsg-2
Severity: serious

NEWS.Debian contains the following entry:
> php5 (5.6.0~alpha1+dfsg-1) experimental; urgency=medium
>
> * THIS IS A DEVELOPMENT PREVIEW - DO NOT USE IT IN PRODUCTION!
> * PHP 5.6.0alpha1 comes with new features such as (incomplete list) :
> + constant scalar expressions,
> + variadic functions,
> + argument unpacking,
> + support for large(>2GiB) file uploads,
> + SSL/TLS improvements,
> + a new command line debugger called phpdbg.
>
> -- Ondřej Surý <ondrej at debian.org> Tue, 28 Jan 2014 11:02:20 +0100

I'm not sure from what angle this should be taken. On one hand, although the version which reached testing is no longer alpha, it's still very early. The current release's announcement had a similar disclaimer: http://php.net/archive/2014.php#id2014-05-15-1

On the other hand, we have a history of aggressive PHP packaging. Even the last major version was packaged at RC stage. As far as I know/remember, that went rather well, so we might be as lucky. Alpha versions have been packaged since January.

-- 
Filipus Klutiero
http://www.philippecloutier.com