[arch] Re : Arch release police - extra repo

[Roman Kyrylych]

> More than History, there is still sometimes a downgrade issue because some
> buggy package don't exist anymore in it's old version.

Downgrade issues cannot be easily solved with "releases" (better word
is "snapshots").
Because you often will get too old version from a snapshot, that often
will just not work with current versions of other packages (libraries,
db, python, openssl etc.).

> Don't misunderstand me, ArchLinux have a "step forward" philosophy, and old
> packages should simply be dropped, but it must not constraint the users.
>
> Maybe some package versions should be flagged. Then the repos can keep them
> one year in an "archive" repository. It can be useful in two case :
>
> - A user need to use a program NOW. He don't used this program since a month
> or more and is stuck with a bug in a new version. He can't downgrade it
> quickly because there isn't any old binary.

There is at least one mirror that keeps old versions of packages.
See http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Downgrade_packages

> - It can also be used to check when a bug apears (I don't want to compile
> some old packages to check if it worked in an earlier version).

You have a package cache anyway. Just don't do -Sc ;-)

-- 
Roman Kyrylych (Роман Кирилич)