<div dir="ltr">On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 4:02 PM, Simon Peyton-Jones <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:simonpj@microsoft.com" target="_blank">simonpj@microsoft.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
What causes the "wave of package updates"? Just because GHC 7.8 (say) comes out, no package author need lift a finger. The Haskell Platform sets the pace for package updates. When the Haskell Platform comes out, now THAT is indeed a trigger for a wave of updates. Authors of packages in HP are forced to act; authors of other packages want their packages to work with the next HP.<br>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div>(a) There are packages which tend to track GHC's latest version instead of the HP (yesod used to do this, which was a source of much pain).</div><div><br></div><div>(b) There are linux distributions which always track the latest everything, often in a rolling-release fashion (notably Arch). They are actively hostile to the Platform, and a source of even greater pain. Many package authors update because Arch users demand it and openly insult anyone who points them to the Platform or any policy which suggests that anything other then the absolutely latest version is acceptable.</div>
<div><br></div><div>You *might* be able to control expectations with respect to (a); (b) is not subject to any variety of reason. It will produce as much pressure as it has users, plus multiply that pressure by the number of package authors who are also users.</div>
<div><br></div></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr"><div>brandon s allbery kf8nh sine nomine associates</div><div><a href="mailto:allbery.b@gmail.com" target="_blank">allbery.b@gmail.com</a> <a href="mailto:ballbery@sinenomine.net" target="_blank">ballbery@sinenomine.net</a></div>
<div>unix, openafs, kerberos, infrastructure, xmonad <a href="http://sinenomine.net" target="_blank">http://sinenomine.net</a></div></div>
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