I completely agree that libdb4.3 is ancient grot, and it should be removed from the archive.
I am distressed that the maintainers decided to wait until the freeze to do that. This is entirely *backwards*. The time to decide, "hey, this library should be removed" is at the *beginning* of the release cycle, not at the end. The result is destabilization; right when we should not be destabilizing, packages are being asked to adapt to a new situation and potentially new bugs will appear as a result. Can I plead that, in the future, we decide that a *freeze* applies to package removals just as it does to package changes--and that the same rules apply, namely, a package is only removed during a freeze if this is necessary to fix an RC bug? If the decision were to upgrade libdb4.3 to libdb4.6 without a change in package name--if this were just a new upstream version which claimed compatibility--the rules of the freeze would say "no way, too late, we don't do that, especially for libraries, especially for libraries used by a large number of other packages." But if it gets a new number, then hey, suddenly all bets are off. And the effects are *exactly the same*: namely that the interaction with the new library and existing software which adapts to it are untested. I ask therefore that we create a new rule next time: maintainers which wish to ditch old versions of libraries--and this is certainly an old version that needs to be ditched, indeed, 4.4 too I would think--do so at the BEGINNING of the release cycle, and that once the freeze has happened, it's too late to start ditching things you have suddenly woken up to. We have a problem all the time with maintainers who want to do big destabilizing things at the end of the release cycle, because they suddenly see that the clock is ticking. The same strict attitude needs to apply to ditching old libraries as it does to the *less* destabilizing upgrade of a "leaf" application package. Thomas -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
