Bug 414997

Summary:	[TRACKER] Packages depending on old versions at the same stabilization level
Product:	Quality Assurance	Reporter:	Pacho Ramos <pacho>
Component:	Trackers	Assignee:	Gentoo Quality Assurance Team <qa>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---
Severity:	enhancement	CC:	kensington
Priority:	Normal	Keywords:	Tracker
Version:	unspecified
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Package list:		Runtime testing required:	---
Bug Depends on:	439424, 722500, 848486, 328911, 333099, 412755, 413361, 413635, 414995, 416075, 419795, 420295, 420297, 420303, 420309, 420441, 421335, 421341, 421345, 421347, 421349, 421351, 421369, 421425, 421427, 421643, 424587, 438348, 439714, 447108, 555526, 567804, 587026, 608152, 632348
Bug Blocks:

Description Pacho Ramos gentoo-dev

2012-05-07 09:58:26 UTC

As discussed in bug 412755, it's not legal to depend on older version of the package, causing downgrade of the library on the same stabilization level. This trackers aims to catch packages doing this and trying to resolve this situation (either fixing them, slotting needed depends or masking packages)

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1 Pacho Ramos gentoo-dev

2012-11-17 19:37:43 UTC

"Policy on "<" versioned dependencies
====================================
chithahn requested the council to clear up confusion around "<" versioned
dependencies[3].  This issue seems to combine:
1) notorious behaviour from the usual suspects
2) QA policies whether or not they are properly documented/advertised
3) the technical problem of "<" dependencies causing downgrades

The council sees no rule that makes it illegal to use < dependencies, but
strongly discourages their use.  It must be noted that for some
packages, a downgrade is very undesirable.  This has triggered package
removals in the past.  However, the council requests the teams responsible for
that removal to act reasonably and in good cooperation with the maintainers of
the packages in question."