[NCLUG] Ubuntu software update policy

[Brendan Long]

On 03/29/2010 05:30 PM, Chad Perrin wrote:
> What is Ubuntu's policy for software updates?
>
> I know that a given Ubuntu release has a support lifespan of about 18
> months, but I don't know what exactly "support" entails in this case.
> Does software get basically pinned to a given version number, aside from
> critical bugfixes and security updates, or does the Ubuntu team tend to
> update versions in the APT archives so that you get newer versions of
> software with interface upgrades, new features, et cetera?
>
> I ask because I notice that while 9.04's Pidgin is still languishing at
> version 2.5.5, FreeBSD 7.2's is at 2.6.5, with a Yahoo! Messenger bugfix
> evidently having been introduced in 2.5.7 some months ago.  Is this some
> kind of aberration, or an expected part of using an Ubuntu release when
> we're already verging on two releases later, or what?
>
>   

Ubuntu's policy is to only do security updates after a release, so if
9.04 comes with Pidgin 2.5.5, Ubuntu will patch in security updates for
2.5.5 but will never update to 2.5.6 (until you update Ubuntu to 9.10).
If you want newer versions of packages, you can (exceptionally rarely)
find it in the backports repo or (fairly commonly) find a PPA. For
example, the way the Pidgin devs recommend using it on Ubuntu is to
install their PPA: http://www.pidgin.im/download/ubuntu/ (the actually
PPA is here: https://launchpad.net/~pidgin-developers/+archive/ppa).

The idea behind Ubuntu's policy is that if something works when you
install it, it will keep working perfectly. I see it as more useful for
companies or for installing on your grandma's computer (where you want
everything to keep working with no intervention but don't mind being
behind). If it bothers you, you might like a rolling-release distro like
Arch or Debian unstable.

-Brendan Long