Re: The Guile junk drawer and a C plea

[Attila Lendvai]

>  > IOW, if you don't want changes in your dependencies, then just don't 
> update them.
>  
>  This does not work.
>  
>  You often have to update dependencies for security reasons. Got a new
>  gnutls or openssl or openssh with new cyphers you need to have a working
>  program — will Guile 3 get updated to support them or will you be forced
>  to migrate to Guile 4 to keep your tool working?


fork off guile 3 into a branch, and backport those precious few security issues 
that you are suggesting will pop up.

and if backporting any of the fixes is too much burden, then add a warning and 
leave it unpatched.

it's not about destroying anything. it's about keeping engineering debt low, so 
that the invested human effort continues to give good yields.

or in short: it's possible to end up in an inadequate state by erring in both 
directions (i.e. too much reluctance for cleanup, and too much egerness for 
cleanup).