On 09/11/2014, Sven Hartge <s...@svenhartge.de> wrote: > Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglas...@affinityvision.com.au> wrote: > >> I would rather it be done right [release...], than be done by an >> otherwise /not/ necessary arbitrary date for a freeze. > > I'd like to remind you that not having a pre-set freeze date didn't go > so well in the past. Getting Sarge out for example took ages, because > there was no communicated date set by the release team and the > contributing DDs were in the dark as what to do until which date. Then > the freeze came and lasted for over 1 year which made everybody angry > and in the end, Sarge release with very outdated packages, because of > the uncoordinated freeze peroid. >
I think that, as a user rather than a developer, it is a matter of tradeoffs. I do not know what version number was sarge, but, from memory, regarding Debian Linux 3 and 3.1, people complained and joked about the long time between releases, and how at that time, it was a "It will happen when it happens, maybe in a year, maybe in two years" kind of thing, but, those were what I would regard as the last stable versions of Debian Linux. Since then, it seems to have gone the way of MS Windows; "Release date is coming, so we will release it then, ready or not", and so, each release since 3.1, has seemed to be simply a new testing version. With one new "stable" version, I lost gigabytes of data, when I tried to move it from one system or HDD to another - it moved the directory names, and deleted all of the files. Now, after that, I copy, then check for completion of copying, before deleting, rather than moving. As I have previously, repeatedly, mentioned, I have yet to get Debian Linux 6 working properly - it is still unable to implement memory swapping, and runs out of resources, before it implements swapping to a reasonable degree. In Debian Linux 6, I was able to cheat it into swapping, by opening and then closing one or two particular applications - GIMP was one of them, that would, upon closing, force swapping to occur, if it wasn't already ocurring, and was needed. That semi-functionality disappeared with Debian 6. For me, Debian 6 has lost the functionality of memory swapping. Debian 7 lost GNOME 2 and its functionality, and, whilst I can get an external monitor working with Debian Linux 6, I can't get it working with Debian Linux 7. However, whilst the process of making sure that the Debian Linux version has reasonably stabilised, and, is ready for release, before releasing it, resulted in the stability that had existed, by the time that it was released, then, yes, some packages were outdated. However, Ubuntu, which could be relied upon to have the latest available versions of packages, was like a testing version of Debain (and, not quite as good as Debian, apart from having more cutting edge packages). And then, we have the policies of the package developers, who sometimes do not fix found bugs in versions of the packages that are available for the "stable" version of Debian Linux, but, fix the bugs, for the version of the package that will be made available for the next "stable" release of Debian Linux. That is one of the reasons that I gave up on Ekiga - problems were found, in trying to get it working, but, we were advised that "the bugs have been found and dealt with, and the fixes will be available for the version that will come with the next release of Debian Linux; the next "stable" version of Debian Linux, but not for the then current "stable" version of Debian Linux, so no prospect of getting Ekiga working for the then "stable" version of Debian Linux, existed. So, we simply had to give up on some of the applications that came with Debian Linux, as the application developers determined that no need existed, to have a working version in the "stable" version of Debian Linux. So, it is a matter of tradeoffs. -- Bret Busby Armadale West Australia .............. "So once you do know what the question actually is, you'll know what the answer means." - Deep Thought, Chapter 28 of Book 1 of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy In Four Parts", written by Douglas Adams, published by Pan Books, 1992 .................................................... -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/CACX6j8M0TEPzagvKu9246Hvx2E7ie6p4DXvwM10L=t1odqa...@mail.gmail.com