[Mageia-dev] How will be the realese cycle?

Tue Oct 5 23:01:13 CEST 2010

On Tuesday, 5 October 2010 14:56:21 Tux99 wrote:
+> Quote: Ahmad Samir wrote on Tue, 05 October 2010 15:47
+> 
+> > Again a rolling distro is something that's not clearly defined. And to
+> > be honest, a rolling distro isn't suitable for new or inexperienced
+> > users. Simply because you can't guarantee that a new package won't
+> > introduce regressions (or totally break an app), in this case an
+> > experienced user will know how to revert to an older version, a new or
+> > inexperienced user won't.
+> 
+> I don't think you really read or understood my proposal.
+> I'm not talking about a real rolling distro like Gentoo, I'm only talking
+> about foregoing backported security fixes for newer versions with regards
+> to apps that don't have anything depending on them.
+> 
+> Mandriva already does that with very few apps (like Firefox), I'm just
+> proposing to extend that to more apps where it can be done safely.
+
+So, you don't want a rolling release, just a different security updates policy?
+
+> A backported security fix can introduce as much regressions or instability
+> (IMHO actually more, because it's essentially a fork so less tested)than
+> upgrading to a new version.
+
+In many cases, this depends on the complexity of the fix. In many cases, the 
+security fix is trivial, but other changes that have ocurred in between are 
+significant and require much wider testing.
+
+So, this *will* vary from package to package. But, this has nothing to do with 
+the system of creating and deploying updates, rolling releases, whether users 
+are forced to upgrade everything whether they neeeded it or not. It is merely 
+a policy decision, which is up to the security team.
+
+> Of course it's up to the packager to use good judgement, if the new version
+> of a particular app is a complete rewrite, then it might not be safe to
+> provide the new version, but there are many case where it is perfectly
+> safe and beneficial for the user.
+> 
+> > Look at the rolling distros that've been mentioned, Debian or Gentoo,
+> > right? would anyone recommend Debian or Gentoo for a
+> > new/inexperienced/non-power user?
+> 
+> Sorry, but that comparison is nonsense, Debian and even mre so Gentoo are
+> not suite for novices for many reasons, not because they are rolling
+> distros.
+
+Name one rolling release that is suitable to a large community of non-expert 
+users.
+
+Anyway, the rate-of-change in non-rolling distros which have high update rate 
+(e.g. Fedora) is unacceptable, real rolling distros are a usability nightmare 
+IMHO.
+
+Regards,
+Buchan
+