PPA support policy

[Harald Sitter]

Hullos,

As of recently we get quite some reports using KDE pre-4.3 on jaunty
from PPA. Of which some appear to cause a lot of investigation work.

Some bugs can cause a triage overhead with the result that the issue
was caused by a bug fixed 3 days later in SVN... So I'd very much like
to have a policy on what kind of support we provide for PPA
installations

IMHO: installation-support-only unless
package-targeting-backports-causes-regression

Because: Until KDE reached .0 it is a fast moving code base and issues
should be perused upstream, since we mostly provided the packages to
help upstream aggregate testing anyway. Once it reached .0 we usually
consider getting the packages into -backports, so we should try to
minimize regressions and in general ensure it is not making your
system explode. Still, unless an issues is proven to not affect latest
stable (e.g. stock jaunty, which would make it a regression) it is of
no particular interest to us.

The package-targeting-backports-causes-regression policy would of
course affect stuff like "my KDE ain't starting anymore"... that is
obviously a regression ;-)

The ultimate triage answer to reports failing policy #1:
"Please report upstream"

The ultimate triage question to reports failing policy #2:
"Did this also appear before upgrading to KDE 4.3.0?"
if no => regression => pursue issue

Issues reported about the development series are always to be pursued.

Establishing such policies will most likely cause bad reactions,
unless we get standard answers that explain very well why there is
need for those policies, and of course how to make the report valid by
reproducing it on stable or development. So, do you think it is worth
the risk and do you think those policies make sense?

regards,
Harald