[Pkg-postgresql-public] postgresql 8.2 packaging

[Markus Wanner]

Hi,

Cédric Villemain wrote:
> Yes I saw that, but I follow the dist/ at your url, and view only etch and
> experimental.

Right. Experimental should still work for lenny, though. I might need to
start the equivalent to "lenny-backports".

> Can you just confirm me that your packages are equivalent to the 8.2 we had in
> testing ? (same debian/patches ?)

It's based on what has been in debian testing, but I'm providing newer
bugfix releases.

> Well, to be honest, I think it is good that pg8.2 is removed from debian.

Huh? But still you need it for lenny? How's that possible?

> The
> last stable is 8.3 and in few monthes 8.4. Chances are hight that the next
> debian stable will have only 8.5 (and 8.4 removed). Because debian release cycle
>  is around twice long than the postgreql one.

Well, I prefer having the newest Postgres major release for whatever
Debian release I'm on. That's why I have used 8.2 on etch and I'm pretty
certainly going to use 8.4 on lenny.

Besides, there's the upgrading problem: 8.1 has been shipped with etch,
but is no longer provided with lenny. After an upgrade, you are bound to
the 8.1.x version you have and you will miss all upstream bug- and
security-fixes.

> It is a good step to help people moving to the last stable instead of using an
> old one.

I absolutely agree, but that problem is one of Postgres itself. IMO it
doesn't make sense for the Debian project to ship a half-baked attempt
and force people into using that.

The Postgres project doesn't currently have a solution to the upgrade
problem (and instead offers pretty good long term support). So people
often use these well maintained major versions. Debian shouldn't prevent
users from doing it that way, IMO.

BTW: the Debian tools which allow to install and run multiple major
versions in parallel are pretty awsome. AFAIK there are even efforts for
RPM based distros to build something equivalent. I do not understand why
Debian ignores that major advantage by shipping just one Postgres
version. I'm happily running multiple 8.1, 8.2 and 8.3 versions in
parallel over here.

Of course, others disagree with what I'm saying here. Especially note,
that Martin Pitt stated he dislikes have to maintain multiple Postgres
versions per Debian release. (I hope I got that right, no guarantees).

> I'll be proud to help you if you need.

Cool, thanks.

Regards

Markus Wanner