On 14 June 2011 09:25, Thorsten van Lil <[email protected]> wrote: [...] > > Backports aren't supposed to be for the averaged user
I've seen this argument more than once in this thread. Why isn't backports suitable for the average user? that same average user would install an RPM package from a 3rd party repo or the official web site of an application in a heartbeat to get a new version of "foo". The "backports isn't supported" argument means that if backporting a new package requires a lot of changes then it won't be done, e.g. a new version of vlc/wine/foo isn't a problem, and if something goes wrong with the package after a while another backport will be done "if it's not too much hassle" (e.g. vlc requires a newer ffmpeg to make some video codec work better but that new ffmpeg is known to break some other apps then it won't be done). Packagers don't backport packages they know won't work or are crashy.... > and shouldn't be used > to bring the half of your system up to date. The word "stable release" implies "doesn't change much"; so a new version of vlc or wine isn't a problem, but don't put "updating to GNOME3 or KDE 4.8 in Mageia 1" and "stable" in the same sentence, they don't fit..... such _huge_ changes need to happen in a development release so that the niggles (which are bound to show up) can be ironed out so that the distro becomes "stable" and ready to be released (Mageia 2). [...] -- Ahmad Samir
