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Re: Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages

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Borden wrote: 
> On a few  projects, I've discovered how ancient some software is (like, last commit more than  15 years ago ancient). Unless I missed something, `apt-cache show` doesn't show the upstream release date.

This runs into problems quickly. Relevant issues include:

- no upstream ever existed

- the upstream no longer exists

- the upstream doesn't release; the DD had to pick a particular
  git/svn/hg... version and use that

- the official release date for the version was X, but this is
  the eleventh time a DD has patched in fixes from later
  versions

- the package is synthetic and has multiple release dates,
  possibly including other problems from above

- there are roughly 60,000 packages in Trixie. At five minutes
  per package to research the date, make a decision, add the
  header and re-upload, that's 5000 hours of new work you are asking
  volunteers to do. Two and a half years of full-time employment.

Is it a plausible idea to suggest? Yes. Is making it mandatory
for Trixie reasonable? No.


-dsr-

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Thread

Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages Borden <borden_c@tutanota.com> - 2025-07-03 10:40 +0200
  Re: Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2025-07-03 15:10 +0200
    Re: Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages Gregory Seidman <gsslist+debian@anthropohedron.net> - 2025-07-03 16:20 +0200
    Re: Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages Borden <borden_c@tutanota.com> - 2025-07-04 06:20 +0200
  Re: Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2025-07-03 16:40 +0200
  Re: Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages "Jonathan Dowland" <jmtd@debian.org> - 2025-07-03 19:00 +0200
    Re: Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2025-07-03 19:40 +0200
      Re: Feature idea: show upstream release dates on packages "Jonathan Dowland" <jmtd@debian.org> - 2025-07-04 22:40 +0200

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