[Nix-dev] Should we update Haskell packages in release-15.09?

[Peter Simons]

Hi folks,

I've prepared an update of the Haskell package set for the release-15.09
branch [1], but I'm unsure whether to merge it or not. What is our
policy with regard to this matter? Do we update Haskell packages in
release branches or don't we?

The problem I see is that the normal approach of "update packages only
if it's relevant for security" is really hard to pull off in practice,
because Haskell package versions tend to be crazy interdependent, and
no-one really knows the smallest possible set of updates that we should
make. So it feels like an update-all-or-nothing situation here.

Users of the LTS package sets would certainly benefit from an update
while risking very little in terms of potential breakage. Changes to the
haskellPackages set, however, are more intrusive and might affect users
adversely, which sort-of defeats the point of having a stable release
branch in the first place.

How do others feel about this issue?

Best regards,
Peter


[1] https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/10941https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/10941