Re: [gentoo-devhelp] How to properly handle deps for stabilization or version bumps?

[Andrew Savchenko]

Hi,

On Sun, 12 Apr 2015 02:20:33 +0300 Andrew Savchenko wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have a couple of concerns about a proper way of handling
> complicated dependencies during version bumps or stabilization.
>
> I. With some USE flags combinations package foo depends on bar and
> vice versa. While with a properly set deps (e.g. PDEPEND) this is
> not a problem for users during updates; but this is a problem
> during commits: repoman doesn't allow to commit multiple packages
> at once, so for a short period of time deptree will be broken
> during version bumps or stabilization.
>
> E.g.:
> sci-physics/root: PDEPEND on ~app-doc/root-docs
> app-doc/root-docs[api] DEPEND on ~sci-physics/root
>
> I see three possible solutions:
>
> 1) commit both packages with short window between (e.g. minute or
> two);
>
> 2) ask infra to block cvs <-> rsync tree syncs for a while;
>
> 3) temporarily mask USE="api" for root-docs, commit root-docs,
> commit root, unmask USE="api".
>
> Second option looks like overkill and IMO should be used only for
> large scale operations like mass eselect package moves.
>
> Third option is formally correct, but it requires double
> modification of tree-wide file where any mistake may broke the
> whole tree. I think this approach brings more risks than benefits
> for a simple issue described above.
>
> Currently I use first option, since probability of broking deptree
> is low and affected audience will be very limited.
>
> Any idea how to handle this issue better?
>
>
> II. What to do if package stabilization requires to stabilize deps
> maintained by other devs?
>
> Should I just file a bug with stabilization request to a
> corresponding dev or team?
>
> What to do if I have no version requirements for a
> version to be stabilized? E.g. app-doc/root-docs needs
> dev-haskell/pandoc-citeproc, but it seems to work with any version
> in tree. Probably in will be the best for a relevant team to pick
> up a stabilization candidate for their convenience.
>
> Should I add arches there? Since I'm not a maintainer of a
> dependency package I'm not sure if I can do that. Package may
> require some dependencies to be stabilized as well...
>
> If I'm sure that some package (e.g. dep of my package) works fine
> and I see that it has no unstable deps or critical bugs, may I CC
> arch teams and ask for stabilization myself? Pros here are that
> this will speed up stabilization process and lower overhead for
> other devs, cons are that package maintainer may be aware of some
> issues preventing stabilization of this specific version.

Any comments?
Should I redirect these questions to gentoo-dev mail list?

Best regards,
Andrew Savchenko