Re: [Caml-list] [rfc] deprecating opam 1.2.0

[Hendrik Boom <hendrik@topoi.pooq.com>]

On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 11:09:37AM +0100, Anil Madhavapeddy wrote:
> [ this is cross-posted from https://discuss.ocaml.org/t/rfc-deprecating-opam-1-2-0/332 ]
> 
> This is all for remaining users of OPAM 1.2.0, to see if it can be actively deprecated in favour of OPAM 1.2.2 and higher. 
> 
> ### Why deprecate opam 1.2.0
> 
> OPAM 1.2.0 was released in October 2014, and saw rapid uptake from the community.  We did some rapid bugfixing to solve common problems, and OPAM 1.2.2 was released in April 2015.  Since then, 1.2.2 has been a very solid release and has been the stable version in use to date.
> 
> Unfortunately, part of the bugfixes in the 1.2.2 series resulted in an `opam` file format that is not fully backwards compatible with the 1.2.0 syntax, and the net effect is that users of 1.2.0 now see a broken package repository.  Our CI tests for new packages regularly fail on 1.2.0, even if they succeed on 1.2.2 and higher.
> 
> As we prepare the plan for [1.2.2 -> 2.0 migration](https://github.com/ocaml/opam/issues/2918), it is clear that we need a "one-in one-out" policy on releases in order to preserve the overall health of the package repository -- maintaining three separate releases and formats of the repository is not practical.  Therefore the 1.2.0 release needs to be actively deprecated, and we could use some help from the community to make this happen.
> 
> ### Who is still using opam 1.2.0?
> 
> I found that the Debian Jessie (stable) release includes 1.2.0, and this is probably the last major distribution including it.  The [Debian Stretch](https://wiki.debian.org/DebianStretch) is due to become the stable release on the 17th June 2017, and so at that point there will hopefully be no distributions actively sending opam 1.2.0 out.
> 
> Is there anyone else that is still packaging 1.2.0?  Please comment here if so, and we should move them away.

Yes.  There's Devuan stable.  It is Debian without systemd, and it 
will take a while for it to catch up when Debian relabels their 
releases.  

I'll ask about it on the devuan mailing list.  Perhaps they can 
accelerate the opam-related packages.  I don't  know whether that will 
be compatible with their automated workflow.

-- hendrik