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Date:      Sun, 03 Jun 2012 17:42:55 +0700
From:      Adam Strohl <adams-freebsd@ateamsystems.com>
To:        erob@gthcfoundation.org
Cc:        Etienne Robillard <animelovin@gmail.com>, freebsd-ports@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Why Are You NOT Using FreeBSD?
Message-ID:  <4FCB3FAF.7010504@ateamsystems.com>
In-Reply-To: <4FCB3B6D.4020802@gthcfoundation.org>
References:  <C480320C-0CD9-4B61-8AFB-37085C820AB7@FreeBSD.org> <4FCA0B5F.5010500@digsys.bg> <4FCA20C5.6010901@zedat.fu-berlin.de> <2421561.4aJcXPZZxh@x220.ovitrap.com> <4FCB38F2.4030505@ateamsystems.com> <4FCB3B6D.4020802@gthcfoundation.org>

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On 6/3/2012 17:24, Etienne Robillard wrote:
> Technical debt perhaps counts when upstream vendor "new versions" breaks
> things unexpectingly ?

For this to happen though that means one of two things:

1. The port maintainer has updated the port to grab this new version, 
and tested it (and it worked) then committed the change.  And now it 
doesn't work for some people/setups.  They need to know and fix it.

2. Then the upstream vendor, behind everyone's back, changes the code 
inside the distro file(s).  This then breaks the MD5/SHA256 check.   The 
port maintainer needs to know so they can fix it.

For #1 I see it as delaying the fix ("I won't report my problem, I'll 
just use an old version").

For #2 Having an old version of the ports tree wouldn't solve this issue 
since it was prompted by a change by the vendor to begin with.

I feel like this thread is grossly overstating how often ports are 
broken which is super rare in my experience. Proposing a version'd ports 
tree seems like a bad-practice-encouraging-solution to a problem that 
doesn't really exist [in my experience].

And it is bad practice.  There is a constant stream of security issues 
being discovered and ignoring them is totally inappropriate.

Yes there are rare situations where you have to make a trade off on 
security to fit some highly specialized need but I wouldn't want that to 
be encouraged and it certainly isn't the solution to broken ports.

P.S.
Not subbed to -ports, CC me on replies.



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