Apt repository interoperability, again (Was: Bug#311188: please stop this discussion here)

["Herman Robak" <herman@skolelinux.no>]

On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:16:23 +0200, Holger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org>  
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> please stop this discussion about buggy ubuntu here, the bug is long  
> enough already and we should rather concentrate on fixing it and all its  
> blockers, instead of trying to fix this issue.

Sorry, it was the wrong bug report to attach that discussion to.

However, _my_ point was not about addressing bugginess in Ubuntu.
It was not really specific to Ubuntu at all, except in that I
expected Ubuntu developers and users to be less likely to give
me a blank stare as if to say "and why is that a problem?"

You see, I'm quite embarrassed by the Debian switcharoo:

1) Advocate Debian as a Free and stable distro where package
 installation and upgrading is easy-peasy (no Dependency Hell!)

2) Answer complaints about lacking the latest and greatest by
 pointing to Sid (the latest) or unofficial repositories
 (patent-encumbered stuff)

3) When (2) somehow breaks the user's system, wash hands and
 say "you should have used stable, and only that".


 For many users (2) is unavoidable.  And when you do that,
you are on your own.  Not many gentle safety features are
offered, just a bunch of Really Powerful and Fully Tweakable
options for the proper expert.

 What to do about that?  Say "Use Ubuntu"?

--
Herman Robak