Subject: Versioning in the launchpad ppa

From: Jens Reyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:26:41 +0100

Package: launchpad.net

Hi,

the version of e.g. nx-libs in the X2Go nightly PPA at
https://launchpad.net/~x2go is technically lower than the one in the
official Ubuntu Bionic (18.04) archive:

$ dpkg --compare-versions 2:3.5.99.16-0~201811100633~ubuntu18.04.1 gt
2:3.5.99.16-1 && echo "ppa version is bigger" || echo "ppa version is
smaller"
ppa version is smaller

This would be correct if they had the same "upstream" content, so that
the official package has precedence over the PPA one. However I assume
that the nightly PPA ships newer "upstream" functionality. You may
reflect this by changing the versioning to something like this
(increase the upstream versioning part before the Debian revision -0):

2:3.5.99.16+201811100633-0~ubuntu18.04.1

$ dpkg --compare-versions 2:3.5.99.16+201811100633-0~ubuntu18.04.1 gt
2:3.5.99.16-1 && echo "ppa version is bigger" || echo "ppa version is
smaller"
ppa version is bigger

Otherwise I have to "downgrade" the packages, in order to use the
nightly builds instead of the older official Ubuntu bionic ones. For
this to work I currently use apt pinning:

$ cat /etc/apt/preferences.d/x2go-ppa
Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-x2go
Pin-Priority: 1010

Thanks
jre

---

From: Mike Gabriel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2018 14:59:34 +0000

Control: close -1
Control: tags -1 not-a-bug

Hi Jens,

> Pin: release o=LP-PPA-x2go

This is exactly the way to do it.

Closing this bug as a not-a-bug report.

Thanks+Greets!
Mike
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---

From: Ulrich Sibiller <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:19:47 +0100

> Closing this bug as a not-a-bug report.

I don't really get it. What is the sense in adding a ppa to your
system when you need additional steps to get the packages from there!?
This is counter-intuitive! If a user adds the ppa he/she/it states
his/her/its will to use packages from there, so why ignoring that user
wish?

Uli

---

From: Jens Reyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:48:37 +0100

> his/her/its will to use packages from there, so why ignoring that user

I basically agree with Uli, except that I'd only prefer newer versions
from the PPA over those from the Ubuntu archive (which should be the
case for nightly).
Or with other words: I assume you update the upstream source in the
orig.tar for the nightlies, then you should also change the upstream
version.

---

From: Mike Gabriel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2018 09:01:22 +0000

Hi Uli,

> his/her/its will to use packages from there, so why ignoring that user

It is a versioning topic. As long as we have not released a new  
upstream version, the nx-libs nightly packages we built for Arctica /  
X2Go are always strictly below the released package versions  
officially shipped in the distro.

So, you need to enforce that the nightly builds are preferred over the  
distro's nx-libs. This is wanted (by me).

And yes, it is counter intuitive for PPAs. This results from X2Go's  
nx-libs 3.6.x branch simply being synced over from Github.

Mike

-- 

DAS-NETZWERKTEAM

---

From: Mike Gabriel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2018 09:03:30 +0000

Hi,

> orig.tar for the nightlies, then you should also change the upstream

The orig tarballs are indeed Git snapshots and the code base is newer  
than the upstream release number given. In fact, the package version  
contains the Git revision hash (shortened) and from that you can  
derive what code is actually shipped in the package.

The overall idea is to have an easy upgrade path when you want to  
return from nightly builds (test test test) back to a stable release  
build.

Mike
-- 

DAS-NETZWERKTEAM

---

From: Jens Reyer <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2018 11:00:16 +0100

Hi Mike,

> nx-libs 3.6.x branch simply being synced over from Github.

Then maybe this can be documented on (at least) this page (including
the apt preferences snippet):
https://launchpad.net/~x2go/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

Greets and thanks again
jre