Stretch freeze and the possible future upload of MATE 1.18

[Niels Thykier]

Vlad Orlov:
> Hi all,
> 

Hi :),

I am moving this to debian-release with the MATE packaging team as CC.
(Also BCC'ed to debian-devel at lists.debian.org)

> I'm one of the upstream developers of MATE desktop environment. Current
> version, 1.16, just reached Unstable and should make it into Testing soon.
> However, 1.16 has some outstanding issues (mostly GTK+3 related ones, but
> there are also dependencies on deprecated packages) which we'll only be able
> to handle during 1.18 development phase, due to amount of new code needed for
> that and time needed for testing.
> 

Ok. :)

> So we're interested in getting the future 1.18 release into Stretch before
> it's released as the next Stable. Now we're only preparing to start 1.18
> development, and we don't know which date would be the deadline for 1.18
> release in order for it to make it into Testing. I've looked at three freezes
> listed at https://wiki.debian.org/DebianStretch#Before_the_release and I have
> to admit I don't understand them fully. Which freeze would be the one after
> which the new upstream MATE release won't be accepted into Testing?
> 

It depends on what the MATE release includes.  If it involves a
transition (e.g. ABI / API bumps), then you are looking at 5th of
November as deadline.

Otherwise, I strongly recommend using early/mid-December as the latest
deadline upstream.  That way the MATE packaging has 2-3 weeks to get it
uploaded plus another 2-3 to fix any bugs without any extra hassle.  I
assume here that there is no need for new packages (based on your input
below).

   *Deadlines are for having things in Debian testing*

Please remember to coordinate with the MATE packaging team so they have
time to upload it to unstable and let it migrate.

> Here's the tentative list of possible changes in 1.18 in regards to package
> dependencies:
> 
> [...]
> 
> - src:libmateweather
>   - drop this package completely
> 

Removals can occur after the 5th of Feb.  But please have all reverse
dependencies (if any) fixed before then.

> [...]
> 
> Would something of that count as a transition that should be completed before
> the transition freeze on 5th Nov? Or would it be allowed to upload these new
> packages until soft freeze or even full freeze?
> 
> [...]


That depends if these changes affect the API/ABI of the MATE packages
(in an incompatible way).  I cannot tell that from just looking at
changed dependency lists as I don't know if those changes will be
exposed to reverse dependencies.



Thanks,
~Niels