Re: Non-security updates between stable releases?
Tim Hull dijo [Mon, Jul 30, 2007 at 07:14:50PM -0400]:
> > Please enumerate which features are present in the new version of Gnome
> > which are not present in the Etch version that the "average" user simply
> > cannot live without.
>
> gnome-power-manager contains massive improvements, for one thing - which
> means I can actually use my laptop's special keys (volume etc). Also,
> gnome-power-manager supports suspend much more.
>
> GNOME probably isn't the biggest concern, though - there are other areas
> that will be quite concerns with Etch towards then end of its life cycle.
> In particular, the kernel and X.org will be lacking much support for recent
> hardware (think back to past releases and you'll know what I mean).
Let me add emphasis to the "cannot live without" part. Debian is known
for valuing more overall integration and stability than bleeding
uptodateness or featurefullness. Yes, the situation towards the end of
the Woody life cycle was already unsustainable, and many people were
running completely hybrid machines instead of three year old, although
stable (but really not satisfying for many use cases)
functionality. Right now, most of us can still sit at a Sarge machine
and feel it completely usable. Etch is still -for me- as up to date as
I want it for a _user_ to be.
Maybe, if Etch does not satisfy you, you are not Debian's target user
:) Of course, we can benefit from you working with testing/unstable.
> > Both statements are highly subjective.
>
> Testing doesn't have security support ATM - that's the issue with it.
> Unstable may be more viable, but at times can experience weird issues with
> dependencies.
Every now and then there are breakages, in both testing and
unstable. If I wanted my users' systems to break, I'd point them
towards Fedora instead ;-) Having somebody facing an uninstallable
situation or a conflict indication message, although perfectly
understandable and easy to work out with our current tools, is
something I don't want an end-user to tackle.
Greetings,
--
Gunnar Wolf - gwolf@gwolf.org - (+52-55)5623-0154 / 1451-2244
PGP key 1024D/8BB527AF 2001-10-23
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