Re: Need newer software that included with stable (that isn't at backports.org)

["Tim Hull" <thully@umich.edu>]

ISTM, though, that you are missing the point of Stable.

http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-getting.en.html#s-updatestable

    No new functionality is added to the stable release. Once
    a Debian version is released and tagged `stable' it will
    only get security updates. That is, only packages for which
    a security vulnerability has been found after the release
    will be upgraded. All the security updates are served through
    security.debian.org.

    Security updates serve one purpose: to supply a fix for a
    security vulnerability. They are not a method for sneaking
    additional changes into the stable release without going through
    normal point release procedure. Consequently, fixes for packages
    with security issues will not upgrade the software. The Debian
    Security Team will backport the necessary fixes to the version
    of the software distributed in `stable' instead.

This is how the people who make Debian want it to be.  Ubuntu,
Fedora/RH or SUSE may be better suited to you.

- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA  USA

I understand the point of Debian stable - and I understand why most other distros (beside RHEL and the other "enterprise" distros) use a 4-6 month cycle.  However, I don't see why this much be mutually exclusionary with pulling selected updates down on an "as-needed" basis.  On Windows and OS X, one can easily update, say, 
OpenOffice.org or Firefox without updating the whole system.

On Linux distributions, however, you either have to wait for the next distro release (whether that be 4 months or 12 months) or use hackish solutions only a Gentoo user could love.  Of course, I could just use OS X (or Windows) but that's not the point - I like the tweakability/freedom of Linux, but I just want to be able to update, for instance, my kernel or ACPI packages separate from my glibc and Xorg without leaving the realm of the package system.

In any case, this is probably best reserved for the -devel list, as it has gone outside the scope of my main question (how to make backports) and into the realm of release cycles etc.