Mactel Support needs to provide older versions of packages in PPA, not just the latest

[Chris Lasher]

Mactel Support needs to leave older versions of packages available from the PPA repository. Currently, Mactel Support provides only the latest version of a package per Ubuntu distribution.

Without older versions of packages available, a user who experiences regressions in functionality in a new release of a package must hope that an older version is still in /var/cache/apt/archives. If there is no older .deb in the user's archives, the user is stuck with dysfunctional Ubuntu installation until the bug is fixed, and a new version of the package is released, if ever.

Chronic regressions happen (e.g., see Bug #538326). Users to be able to downgrade to previous versions of packages that are known to work. This benefits not only the users, but also the developers and maintainers of these packages. By allowing users to roll back to previous versions, users can confirm that specific versions of packages are indeed causing bugs/regressions, which will aid in bug reporting. Additionally, users will have less fear of upgrading to newer versions, knowing they can backtrack if necessary, which means more users testing current packages for bugs.

If space is a concern, at least provide ONE previous version for the current stable Ubuntu distribution (e.g., as of 2010-03-12, this is Ubuntu 9.04 Karmic Koala).