[Mageia-dev] bug 2317 revisited: --update option should behave like --search-media

[Claire Robinson]

> suppose that only blender and firefox and gimp and java is backported. any
> kind of combination would have to be tested to be able to support
> backports:
> - testing backports blender on a system without backports
> - testing backports blender on a system with backports and only firefox
> installed from backports
> - testing backports blender on a system with backports and only gimp
> installed from backports
> - testing backports blender on a system with backports and only java
> installed from backports
> - testing backports blender on a system with backports and both firefox
> and gimp installed from backports
> - testing backports blender on a system with backports and both firefox
> and java installed from backports
> - testing backports blender on a system with backports and both gimp and
> java installed from backports
> - testing backports blender on a system with backports and firefox and
> gimp and java installed from backports
>
> This for each arch: thus 16 tests.
>
> This amount of tests is a direct result of trying to support backports
> when you can have any single backported package installed, that you want.


I think you are misunderstanding the kind of support we can offer for 
backports. See Thomas's email. We will test a package installs and 
works. We don't plan on supporting updates against already installed 
backports, at least none that I'm aware of and if so then we maybe ought 
to rethink opening backports altogether.

We obviously support updates against already installed updates. If that 
happens to break a backported package then that is not our main concern. 
We certainly have no plans to add an extra layer of testing to regular 
updates to check for that. I've never used a distro where backports were 
treated that way and we absolutely do not have the manpower in QA to 
support it. I'm not sure what other way to say it. I apologise if that 
narrows the options on backports policy but this is the reality of it.

That though is a separate discussion (or should be) and not related to 
fixing bug 2317.

Claire