On 4/1/24 2:38 PM, Demi Marie Obenour wrote: > On Sun, Mar 31, 2024 at 03:45:29PM -0700, Andrew David Wong wrote: >> On 3/27/24 2:57 AM, qubist wrote: >>> On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:46:12 -0700 Andrew David Wong wrote: >>> >>>> ## What's new in Qubes OS 4.2.1? >>>> >>>> [...] >>>> >>>> For more information about the changes included [...] >>> >>> It would be much better to have a more detailed (yet concise) >>> changelog. It is highly unlikely that the user will read pages upon >>> pages of issues on a bug tracker, just to find out what is new. >>> >>> My $0.02. :) >>> > >> The concise changelog is already present, in the part you elided. Unlike >> major and minor releases, the primary purpose of patch releases is not to >> deliver new features or enhancements worth showcasing. Rather, the primary >> purpose is to provide a secure and convenient way for users to install (or >> reinstall) the latest stable Qubes release with an up-to-date ISO. > >> Imagine if we had a major or minor release, then we didn't have any further >> releases for a year. Users who wanted to (re)install Qubes would have to use >> a year-old ISO, then immediately catch up on a year's worth of updates, >> which could take quite a long time. Moreover, any bugs that affected the >> installation or initial update processes themselves might be complete >> blockers for some users. A security vulnerability in the update mechanism >> could make that initial update risky. > >> The purpose of these patch releases is mainly just to move up the "starting >> point" so that fresh installations don't have as far to "catch up" before >> they're on par with existing, regularly-updated installations. That's why >> the main summary of changes is just "all the routine updates you would've >> gotten if you had installed 4.2.0 and kept it up to date." Some of these >> routine updates will be of interest to some users while being of no interest >> at all to most other users. There should rarely be any that are of interest >> to *all* users. (Those should usually go in major or minor releases instead.) > > With the obvious exception of security patches.
It occurred to me after I sent this that someone would probably point this out. Yes, but we already make a separate announcement for each and every QSB, so it would be somewhat redundant to repeat that in every patch release announcement. I'm not sure why listing the exact QSB patches included in a given patch release would be more useful to the average user than just saying "includes all security patches to date" (which is entailed by "includes all updates to date"). -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "qubes-users" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to qubes-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qubes-users/01ec459d-876c-46e3-88de-3ef2640a00c4%40qubes-os.org.
