When should a package be ubuntu-versioned?

[Mike Bird]

On Tue, 2006-01-03 at 09:43, Stephan Hermann wrote:
> On Monday 02 January 2006 21:28, Mike Bird wrote:
> > On Mon, 2006-01-02 at 03:46, Ming Hua wrote:
> > > IMHO this should be done by backporting/forward-porting, mixing binary
> > > packages from different releases is just asking for trouble (let alone
> > > mixing Debian and Ubuntu packages).
> >
> > Problems can arise, but usually it works.  Sometimes you need
> > multiple library versions but that's not a problem - this isn't
> > Windoze.  Testing will tell you what will work and what won't.
>
> Well, actually you are alone with the support of those systems. I don't think 
> that neither Debian nor Ubuntu or any other distribution is supporting such a 
> mess making.

Filing a bug report is "a good thing" long term.  I generally file
bug reports if I find a problem that has not already been reported.
Usually I file upstream unless it's clearly a local packaging bug.
AppleTalk is an exception though - I don't understand the protocols
well enough to say more than "the Breezy version doesn't work in
some situations where the Hoary version works well".

However, filing a bug report doesn't get the system running today,
tomorrow, or next week.  One does what is needed to keep the
system running.  One of many possible solutions is to use packages
from different releases.  Like other possible solutions, it works
in some cases and fails in some cases.  It's neither a magic bullet
nor inherently evil.

--Mike Bird