Depends what you mean by works. Of course installing the same version of the tool will in most cases keep doing the same thing it's always done. But it's possible the tool always had bugs that were never noticed, has significant improvements that could benefit the project, etc.
I would settle for knowing I could still build it. It is amazing how fragile build chains are and the amount of maintenance they require. The build tools themselves, let alone pulling in dependencies.
This is the main reason I'm so happy when I see builds run in docker containers. I don't have to worry as much about tracking down the exact dependencies that we're used to build a specific release.
I think docker is a false sense of security. Depending on the language, there can be many implicit system dependencies which you do not pin. If you try to run a container that references ubuntu:13.04, will it still work today? Maybe. Still leagues better than where we were.
I am still hoping for Nix or a version 2 of the project to sweep the world and fix this mess.
Comments
Buuuut is it tool rot though if it still works?
Depends what you mean by works. Of course installing the same version of the tool will in most cases keep doing the same thing it's always done. But it's possible the tool always had bugs that were never noticed, has significant improvements that could benefit the project, etc.
I would settle for knowing I could still build it. It is amazing how fragile build chains are and the amount of maintenance they require. The build tools themselves, let alone pulling in dependencies.
This is the main reason I'm so happy when I see builds run in docker containers. I don't have to worry as much about tracking down the exact dependencies that we're used to build a specific release.
I think docker is a false sense of security. Depending on the language, there can be many implicit system dependencies which you do not pin. If you try to run a container that references ubuntu:13.04, will it still work today? Maybe. Still leagues better than where we were.
I am still hoping for Nix or a version 2 of the project to sweep the world and fix this mess.
To prolongue instead of "etc." what is often of more interest for those who build:
- configuration changes in the new versions
- undocumented changes in the new versions
- subtle changes in the build result that lead to flaws in the artefacts
- some of them leading to security flaws (those in the real camp)
- some of them leading to data-loss when running on production systems.
But sure, if you have kept the linter up-to-date ... .