[Merge] ~kennybobs/ubuntu/+source/debootstrap:ubuntu/devel into ubuntu/+source/debootstrap:ubuntu/devel

[Robie Basak]

On Mon, Feb 05, 2024 at 12:33:42PM -0000, Ken Sharp wrote:
> > Looking at the history of this package, I can't find anything that suggests
> > that we have ever maintained releases in the development release for EOL
> > releases.
> 
> As above. The current script already contains EOL releases.

I'm talking about the specific change being proposed here. Perhaps the
general direction of development is to remove support for EOL releases.
If so, then pointing out that some old code still remains is not
justification to reverse direction.

> > This seems like maintenance burden to me
> 
> The whole package is a maintenance nightmare.

This isn't justification to make it more difficult still.

> The idea is to make old releases available for building (Wine, for
> example) and testing (multiple regressions throughout Launchpad). This
> is something I do regularly when reporting bugs to both Ubuntu and
> Debian.
> 
> There are a myriad of bugs that cannot be confirmed and/or
> confirm-fixed unless you can access the old releases. Installing a
> bunch of VMs are the other option, which is just a waste of resources.
> I've personally confirmed and/or confirm-fixed a load of bugs on
> Launchpad this week alone (alongside a few Debian bugs).

Thank you for explaining your need here. I'm not sure that's sufficient
justification for the maintenance burden though. Rather than support old
releases effectively forever, it seems to me that it would be more
appropriate for those needing to inspect those to keep old installations
and/or images around, as prepared from our archives
(old-releases.ubuntu.com).

I've asked on IRC to see if there's consensus on this though.
-- 
https://code.launchpad.net/~kennybobs/ubuntu/+source/debootstrap/+git/debootstrap/+merge/459594
Your team Ubuntu Sponsors is requested to review the proposed merge of ~kennybobs/ubuntu/+source/debootstrap:ubuntu/devel into ubuntu/+source/debootstrap:ubuntu/devel.