[csw-maintainers] Using a package from current on stable

[Daniel Pocock]

dam at opencsw.org wrote:
> Hi Daniel,
> 
>> The Ganglia package I've been working with works on a wide range of
>> architectures.  I thought I would try to install the package on a
>> Solaris 8 system with OpenCSW stable instead of current
> 
> FYI: Adding newer packages to stable is not supported and newer packages
> will not be added to stable. A stable release is made from current during
> a release-freeze with thourough package inspection. An update of stable is
> pending and there is no date for an update.
> 
> James, out stable release manager, made some progress towards a new
> stable, but due to time constraints there is no timeframe.
> 
>> Two issues arise:
>> - cswclassutils is missing on stable
>> - expat.so.0 on stable, expat.so.1 expected for current
>>
>> Therefore, I suspect I need to
>>
>> - copy some additional things, e.g. cswclassutils, to the system where I
>> want Ganglia
> 
> If you want to poach your stable installation you can do that.
> 
>> - rebuild my package for stable's library versions - how do I tell gar
>> to do that?
> 
> You don't, as new packages are always build against current.
> 
>> Given that my package is a new package and doesn't impact any other
>> packages, are there any other steps I need to take to make it suitable
>> for an upcoming stable release?  Will the use of cswclassutils prevent
>> me from having the package in stable?
> 
> If a new stable release is made and your package has been released to current
> at that time and has no open critical bugs it will go automatically into
> stable.
> 
> The delay of a new stable release is painful, but we don't have that many
> people having the infrastrastructure, time and knowledge to do it.
> 

I understand that OpenCSW can't endorse a package and put it in stable 
without following the correct process - otherwise, there would just be 
anarchy

However, if someone wants to distribute a package through a third party 
download site (e.g. the upstream download page on SF), and they want 
their package to just drop in to stable, is that permitted?  Is there a 
convenient way to build such a package with gar on the build farm?