A rant originally posted to the linux-delhi (and other) lists by Raju Mathur - a Unix guru of nearly 2 decades' standing, and a member of the OSI board.
This is only the latest example of a phenomenon I am noticing of late. I think Ubuntu is experiencing a backlash that they would do well to pay careful attention to - as this is happening among the geek / early adopter demographic that is a powerful opinion-shaper. Udhay >Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:25:22 +0530 >From: Raj Mathur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [LIG] [LONG] [RANT] Ubuntu and Quality Control >To: "The Linux-Delhi mailing list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > >First thing yesterday morning: urgent IM message from Suresh >Ramasubramanian (hoster of this mailing list): > > Mailman is down, can you help? > >OK, so we start investigating his box. He has upgraded Python2.4 to >Python2.5, and applied a Mailman security patch package. However, >whenever we try to access the page, the server barfs. On to server >logs -- syntax error in one of the Mailman support files. > >Right, I can understand an upgrade causing logical errors, but a SYNTAX >ERROR!??!? Nah, I must be missing something, so I look all over the 2 >upgrades. Switch back to Python2.4 from Python2.5, no joy. Recompile >all the Mailman files from scratch, no joy. Recompile the Ubuntu >Mailman package from source and reinstall it, no joy. Bang head >against wall, no joy. > >Finally, desperate, I start comparing Mailman files on Suresh' server >against Mailman installed on other servers. While they are different >versions of Mailman, I do notice one anomaly: where one file has: > > mlist.subject_prefix = Utils.canonstr( > val, mlist.preferred_language) <- *** Note this line *** > elif property == 'info': > >Suresh' server has: > > mlist.subject_prefix = Utils.canonstr( > elif property == 'info': > >Saying, `no, no, it can't be!' I insert the missing line into the file >on the broken machine, cross fingers, eyes, legs, etc and restart >Mailman. > >It works! > >[Shift to today] > >Ubuntu issues a security notice that says, in effect, ``We screwed up >with the previous Mailman patch, so here's the latest and greatest >version of Mailman, and this one really, Really, REALLY works! Believe >us!''. > >I don't believe them. In the past 6 months Ubuntu has issues 80 new >security advisories. For those 80 advisories, they have issued no less >than SEVEN regressions (a regression is a patch to fix a broken patch). >A near-10% regression rate sends only one message to me -- we can't be >bothered with doing any quality control before we release packages. > >Before Ubuntu came onto the scene, I didn't even /know/ what a >regression was. Today it's a common word in my lexicon, because of >Ubuntu's pathetic testing and quality control process (or lack of >process, more likely). An operating system vendor who issues a package >with a syntax error (so that the package doesn't even start up, leave >alone do something wrong), is a pure crap snake oil vendor in my book. > >So, the question: will I trust Ubuntu on an Internet-connected system? >Nah. > >Will I trust Ubuntu on a server? Er, please excuse me while I finishing >laughing hysterically! > >Use Debian or CentOS or any of those reasonably tested other >distributions for your boxes, and when someone asks you to use Ubuntu, >in the immortal words of Fancy Raygun, ``Just Say No!''. > >Regards, > >-- Raju >-- >Raj Mathur [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kandalaya.org/ > Freedom in Technology & Software || February 2008 || http://freed.in/ > GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F >PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/ || It is the mind that moves -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com)) -- ubuntu-in mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-in
