That's one perspective, and it has merit. Others tell me, "You should use a stable release and build software you need from scratch — that way, you get the best of both worlds!" In either case, it seems like writing new software using bleeding-edge versions of libraries and tools is not really necessary; if you hang back a couple releases, it makes matters much easier. Backward compatibility is much easier to achieve than forward.
(I don't have enough experience with GJS and WebkitGtk to know if slightly older versions would have been workable here, though I believe that approach to be valid in most cases.)
A library from 1 to 6 to 18 months ago is not "bleeding edge" in any way shape or form.
You are making software reactionary arguments for people doing a lot of work to support you touristing their software from an ancient, long out of date software distribution (which is what people that use Debian Stable want).
If you are going to make bug reports or even comments you really would be better to state you are on Debian Stable from the beginning, it's actually rude to make people think you are on a reasonably supportable distro without warning.
Flatpak is probably your best choice to encourage people to be even able to support your distribution choice going forward. The sandbox also has some attendant benefits that will bear more fruit in the future.
> In either case, it seems like writing new software using bleeding-edge versions of libraries and tools is not really necessary; if you hang back a couple releases, it makes matters much easier.
I believe this is precisely what Foliate does. It depends on meson 0.40 (released Apr 2017) and gjs 0.52 (released Mar 2018). Sixteen months old dependencies can hardly be considered bleeding-edge.
I've using Linux as my primary desktop at work and home for going on 25 years.
If you want to use newer software you should pick a distribution that is geared for that.
Debian stable is for people that DON'T want new software or even to try new software.
You are at odds with your choices.
Either switch to Testing, Unstable or pick an Ubuntu strategy ie Long term or every 6 months.
Of these choices Ubuntu is actually more conservative then Testing or Unstable as it walks forward in a predictable time based manner.
Good luck.