Using multiple version tags on the same commit confuses downstream

[glaubitz]

I have repeatedly run into the problem that I started working on updating the guest-agent package in openSUSE Tumbleweed only to realize that there the latest version 20251021.00 is actually just another tag next to 20251020.00, 20251015.00, 20251009.01 and 20251007.00.

I'm not sure what the reason these multiple tags is, but it would be great if version tags could be used for tagging one unique release only to avoid downstreams wasting their time with package updates without any changes.

[drewhli]

We'll be working on resolving this once we fully migrate to the new codebase. I do agree that it is very confusing for maintainers to pick a tag since it's not clear what has changed between versions.

Just to clarify, all the releases being the same commit is because there haven't been any changes made in this repo, which when GitHub automatically generates the contents for the commit, it just chooses the same latest commit. Meanwhile, these tags are created/released when commits to the new codebase are made, which should hopefully clarify why there are a bunch of version tags on the same commit.

[glaubitz]

Thanks for the clarification. Do you think it already makes sense to switch the downstream package in openSUSE/SLE over to the new upstream codebase?

[ChaitanyaKulkarni28]

Not yet. We generally work file a bug with SUSE when its time to update the guest-agent package. Currently we're in phased rollout and don't want SLES/OpenSUSE images to pick it up yet

[glaubitz]

Not yet. We generally work file a bug with SUSE when its time to update the guest-agent package.

I know. I'm the person who receives these bug reports at SUSE ;-).

Currently we're in phased rollout and don't want SLES/OpenSUSE images to pick it up yet

I'm regularly updating the GCE packages in openSUSE for testing purposes, so we're able to test new features and catch regressions early.

The packages are only updated on request in SLE which is our enterprise product.