[Mageia-dev] Release cycles proposals, and discussion

Tue Jun 14 20:06:44 CEST 2011

On 14 June 2011 09:25, Thorsten van Lil <tvl83 at gmx.de> 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
+