Re: how to deal with php5 only packages

Alexey Borzov wrote:

OK, version 0.2 (beta) was released 2004-01-18 and downloaded 1799 times. Version 1.0.0beta1 (beta, obviously) was released 2004-04-30 and downloaded 677 times. Which means, less than 1/2 of users upgraded for 1,5 months. Now, 1.0.0 (stable) released 2004-06-11 was already downloaded 713 times. So the same people who didn't care to upgrade for 1,5 months before suddenly *rushed* to upgrade now. And this has *nothing* to do with change in package state, yes? Hiding from obvious problems is not a solution.

Isn't this an obvious good thing? A non-stable package should not be relied upon. The stable label is a golden standard that says "you can use this and it will work like it is documented to work." When a package is not stable, it either is not rigorously tested, or not rigorously documented. Either situation leads to hidden and annoying problems down the road. Naturally, people will be much more likely to wait a little while until a stable release is available. That's how the system works. I don't understand the crisis, perhaps I am approaching the problem from the wrong angle? Greg