Lately we've seen a surge of FTI (fails to install) bugs being proposed as freeze exceptions [1] [2]. We generally grant them, because we want the base repo to be in a consistent and buildable state. However, I wonder, isn't this approach mostly relevant for the Final release? Does it make sense to also have this approach for Beta?
The reason why I'm thinking about this is because of course there's some work connected with granting and processing these freeze exceptions (FEs). But at the same time, updates-testing is enabled by default, so users can get the fixed versions immediately, and the fixes can be pushed stable right after the Beta freeze is over. Is the extra FE-related work justified?
One reason I can think of is when the package A in question needs to be used for rebuilding/installing another package B. In that case, if package A is not pushed stable, you can't prepare an update for package B into updates-testing (or can you? Can you build several inter-connected packages together and make a Bodhi update for them? What if you have access rights to just package B but not A?). I do understand that in this case waiting until the freeze lifts might be inconvenient.
What if we granted FEs for Beta just in these justified cases but not in general, in order to decrease the processing-work? Is that a good/bad idea?
Or perhaps we can grant FTI FEs automatically? Either always, or in some cases?
What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Kamil