If I am working on an older version, I don't expect you to backport bugfixes of CTAN packages. However, if I am asking for help because latex won't run without extra configuration because it says it is too old, getting an idea of how to fix it instead of being reflexively told "upgrade" would be nice. In the end when that happened to me I had to figure it out on my own.
Here's the thing "that's a bug that was more recently fixed. You might try going about this in a different way." is perfectly valid support for server software. It would even be enough to say "that package seems to work for me on a newer version."
But when it comes to running LaTeX and there is a time-bomb in the program, it is nice to know how to get around it in an automated, non-interactive environment.
Oh well, got it documented at least. I was mostly annoyed at the responses I got to requests for help. :-)
Just to be clear, we've had version-related issues with other thins in the past too, such as Perl arbitrary math libs changing behavior in ways that caused crashes, the way PostgreSQL changed stuff in 8.3 and 9.1 and a few others. This sort of thing is normal and we can all accept that things change and that if you are going to deal with supporting a range of versions, you are going to have to deal with the fact that behavior won't be the same.
It's more a criticism of the culture I encountered when I asked for help.
Anyway TexLive on the whole has made my life easier with the rare exception. I am a huge LaTeX and XeTeX fan. I have written books using it. And aside from the issues relating to upgrading, the culture around it is very helpful and professional. Thanks for listening to my gripes. On the whole the community rocks.
But, the scripts we use to build the stuff etc are all in the archive and documented, so anyone can checkout the 2010 or older release, and start a separate repository putting only fixes in. I don't see any reason not to do it, besides that nobody will do it.