Can you explain testing actually solves this problem? The problem is multifaceted: it involves the behavior changes of a Gnome, which testing will find, and the unwillingness of some distros (I would imagine Debian is in there) to release new software for reasons other than security fixes, which testing doesn't and cannot address.
The author makes it clear updating his code to fix the problems is not the problem.
That depends what you consider the problem in the scale of things. Needing to fight library versions is a pain but if you know about it (which I'm saying you can) you can do things to ensure your software —your responsibility- keeps working.
Testing helps you find issues before your users start knocking on your door and whining about broken software. They expect you to test. Is that fair? Not even the smallest bit... But it's the way things work.
If you don't give a crap about your users, and you only do this as a programming exercise, let your users be your first line of testing.
Again, I'm not saying that the problems described aren't real (or even that they're not frequent) but if you want to live in an ecosystem, you have to become a part of that. Get stuck in and fix these problems as best you can.
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And maintaining security-only release structures is designed to make this very problem predictable and maintainable. You know what's going to be in the release a month, two months before it's out. Testing and fixing then means your app works for the life of that release.
The author makes it clear updating his code to fix the problems is not the problem.