diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | profiles/package.mask/text.xml | 19 |
1 files changed, 19 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/profiles/package.mask/text.xml b/profiles/package.mask/text.xml index dd37b9b..299d153 100644 --- a/profiles/package.mask/text.xml +++ b/profiles/package.mask/text.xml @@ -15,6 +15,25 @@ of the <c>package.mask</c> file is described in <c>man portage</c>. </p> <p> +Development or unstable (per upstream declaration/categorization) versions of +packages should usually be masked in <c>package.mask</c>. Upstreams may not +deem such releases to be ready for general distribution (or safe to use), or +may not be expecting bug reports from the wider userbase yet. The default +should generally be to mask such versions, but it is acceptable to not mask +in some circumstances <d/> e.g. upstream make very infrequent releases, the +changes are safe (reviewed by the Gentoo maintainer), or perhaps other +distributions are shipping the same new version. As an alternative to a +development version, you may also consider backporting required upstream fixes +to the released version. +</p> + +<p> +Overall, masking something and unmasking if it turns out to be stable is +safer (and leads to a better user experience) than the inverse (pushing +unmasked and breakage occurring). +</p> + +<p> Entries are added chronologically <d/> that is, newer entries should be placed towards the top of the file, underneath any initial header comment block. |