[Evolution-hackers] LFS in evolution-data-server

[Yves-Alexis Perez <corsac debian org>]

Hey there,

I'm the current evolution/eds/gtkhtml maintainer in Debian, and I'd like
to ask a question.

I recently enabled large file support in evolution-data-server in
Debian. It seems that it leaded to the discover of some bugs on i386
installs (like http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=580419 /
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=612082  and
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=585921 /
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=619098) which leaded to crashes.

Not all bugs are caused by LFS, but it seems that enabling it leads to
use infrequent/less tested code paths, which lead to bug discovery. It
seems like a good idea to fix bugs and not hide them, so I'm fine with
that, but I have someone asking to disable LFS support for Squeeze
(we're trying to freeze at the moment) so the bugs revealed by LFS
support stay hidden.

The bug asking for that is at
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=588316 basically saying
it's safer to disable it for now and re-enable it later in unstable. I'm
not completely against disabling it (it wasn't enabled before, like in
Lenny) but it's a release goal for us, and all in all it seems like a
good idea to be able to support large files.

I don't know if a lot of people have 2/4G+ files on their evolution
install, and only 32 bit users are concerned (but that still means quite
a lot of people), so I'd like to ask upstream advice on this. What do
you think of the LFS support, should it be considered stable and enabled
(and eventual bugs fixed asap) or should I still keep it disable for now?

Thanks for your help,
-- 
Yves-Alexis