Also, on both the mailing list and IRC it has been suggested a system where the uploader chooses the "minimal firmware version required" (i.e. via flag in package control file) before uploading a package and then it goes to a specific firmware autobuilder & repo. Let's call that "Option 4"?

Cons: requires H-A-M modifications, requires users that want to use newer firmware features to appropriately select the minimal firmware.


IMHO, using the enhaced shlibdeps + option 3 would be cleanest. You get the autobuilder to "know" which firmware version is really the minimal one required, and thus the autobuilder can generate packages with the minimal required >= mp-fremantle-generic-pr dependency (or maybe H-A-M gains the required intelligence to do that, even if it means "checking with a server"). I expect most packages (think Debian ports) not to need the latest&greatest, so this does not kill non-latest firmware users as much as option 3 alone.

Of course, this seems to be the most difficult, since it requires many changes to all system library packages.