Bug#1087654: bookworm-pu: package systemd/252.32-1~deb12u1

[Luca Boccassi]

On Sun, 17 Nov 2024 at 11:41, Cyril Brulebois <kibi at debian.org> wrote:
>
> Jonathan Wiltshire <jmw at debian.org> (2024-11-17):
> > Control: tag -1 d-i confirmed
> >
> > On Sat, Nov 16, 2024 at 07:45:46PM +0000, Luca Boccassi wrote:
> > > We would like to upload the latest stable point release of systemd 252
> > > to bookworm-p-u. Stable release branches are maintained upstream with
> > > the intention of providing bug fixes only and no compatibility
> > > breakages, and with automated non-trivial CI jobs that also cover
> > > Debian and Ubuntu. I have already uploaded to p-u.
> > >
> > > There are no packaging changes. Debdiff attached. The debdiff excludes
> > > hwdb generated IDs.
> > > The list of commits included can be seen at:
> > >
> > > https://github.com/systemd/systemd-stable/compare/v252.31...v252.32
> >
> > d-i ack needed for the udeb; CC.
>
> No objections on the d-i side.
>
> That being said, I'm still very much not convinced by those stable
> uploads that bundle together trivialities, actual fixes, and behavorial
> changes

Thanks, always nice to see one's (volunteered) work appreciated. From
a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, since the release of
Bookworm, the work I've been doing in curating these upstream stable
point releases have fixed about ~450 bugs (this excludes changes in
docs, tests, CI, etc). If memory serves, there have been 3 or 4
regressions, so a 1-to-100 ratio. That seems worthwhile to me, but if
RT wants me to stop doing it, please just say so, as it costs me a
significant chunk of my free time to do this work.

> especially since there seems to be absolutely no documentation
> whatsoever:
>  - changelog.Debian.gz provides zero information;
>  - NEWS.gz is stuck at v252 (i.e. 32 versions ago).

Upstream stable releases do not get a curated changelog. If you'd like
them to, please feel free to write them and contribute them. This is a
volunteer effort in an open source project, PRs are always welcome.

> As a user it's a major PITA to have to go through upstream's git tree
> to figure out whether some breakages are just bad luck or actual side
> effects of a supposedly-stable update. (I've been there, done that,
> multiple times. And yes, I probably could have reported that at the
> time, but not enough energy, motivation, and time…)

It doesn't seem particularly productive to me to complain about
unspecified bugs that were never even reported to begin with. If you
want to see bugs solved, please at least contribute actionable bug
reports. Thanks.