Mandriva has today released Mandriva Linux 2009, the new major release of the popular distribution. 2009 is a bold release which brings the new KDE 4 as the default desktop, along with a re-designed installer and Mandriva Control Center and many other new features. Other significant updates include GNOME 2.24, OpenOffice.org 3, Mozilla Firefox 3, and kernel 2.6.27. Key features include new graphical in-line upgrade capability, netbook compatibility, class-leading hardware support, and further improved support for working with mobile devices. For more details, see the Release Tour and the Release Notes. Get it at the download page, or go straight to the torrent list.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Mandriva backports are more active than Ubuntu's, but it really depends on exactly what you're looking for. There's no policy of Thou Shalt Backport or Thou Shalt Not Backport - it's up to the maintainer of the package. You can often ask for a backport of something that's not been done yet, though, and if it's not too much trouble, the maintainer will do it. What specifically were you looking for?
I can't fully answer the second - I've never tried doing a minimal GNOME setup like that - but looking at the gnome-panel dependencies, it doesn't depend on gnome-system-tools or totem, but it does depend on gstreamer.
Member since:2006-05-11
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions, Adam.
1. Obscure packages like http://tovid.sf.net , and http://mtpaint.sourceforge.net for example. These are just random examples of obscure programs that I use. And what about backports of things like Gnome and KDE, does that ever happen?
2. Basically, different distros break up big projects like Gnome in different ways. Debian and Ubuntu tend to be very modular, and you can install just little parts of Gnome without being forced to install it all. And Debian and Ubuntu tend to allow you to install little parts of Gnome without being forced to install many dependencies. Many other distros, for example, (I'm not sure about Mandriva) don't break up Gnome quite as finely, and they tend to have label more packages as required dependencies when they're not really absolutely necessary.
Member since:2005-07-20
1. What is Mandriva's policy on updating or backporting applications? I am currently a fairly satisfied Ubuntu user except for one major gripe: I really find it irritating to wait 6 months for the next release in order to upgrade to the latest version of my desktop applications. The Ubuntu backports are almost worthless, they are very slow to upgrade and only care about the most popular packages. In the case of a more obscure app, you're out of luck until the next biannual release. Is Mandriva any different?
You can check out the main and contrib backports repositories for 2008.1 to get an impression: ftp://ftp.free.fr/pub/Distributions_Linux/MandrivaLinux/official/2... and ftp://ftp.free.fr/pub/Distributions_Linux/MandrivaLinux/official/2... (the files in this directory are source RPMs, so don't install these by clicking them unless you want to rebuild them yourself)
2. How modular are Mandriva's packages, especially Gnome? I like to run a very minimal Gnome desktop that I install from scratch with only Nautilus and gedit and the panel and the a few utilities. With Ubuntu, this works very well. With some other distros, a just installing the Gnome panel pulls in gstreamer, Totem, gnome system tools, any many other "required" packages that aren't really necessary. What about Mandriva?
You can install task-gnome-minimal - that should pull in just the bare minimum of Gnome packages. Have fun!
Member since:2007-09-06
I'm a KDE type but the same should hold for both I would think. After installing urpmi and the minimum to reboot with network support, I urpmi konsole to get the terminal and minimal KDE required to run it. It seems to only bring in what base KDE is actually needed for it.
By contrast, my only gripe with Debian is that any KDE has the rest of KDE as a dependency. Instead of "apt-get install konsole" and only getting the required KDE framework, I get all the extra plugins and crap along with it.
Mandriva is still my first love for a desktop and Debian for a server. Debian's drawback remains the all of GNOME or KDE as a dependency for any GNOME or KDE. Mandriva's strength remains a nice modular dependency tree, great hardware support and, well, draketools.. wonderful draketools.
Member since:2006-05-11
Ah! I know why your Debian installs extra packages like you described. Check this out:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?p=2830909#po...
Member since:
2006-05-11
Hello all,
I have two questions before I download:
1. What is Mandriva's policy on updating or backporting applications? I am currently a fairly satisfied Ubuntu user except for one major gripe: I really find it irritating to wait 6 months for the next release in order to upgrade to the latest version of my desktop applications. The Ubuntu backports are almost worthless, they are very slow to upgrade and only care about the most popular packages. In the case of a more obscure app, you're out of luck until the next biannual release. Is Mandriva any different?
2. How modular are Mandriva's packages, especially Gnome? I like to run a very minimal Gnome desktop that I install from scratch with only Nautilus and gedit and the panel and the a few utilities. With Ubuntu, this works very well. With some other distros, a just installing the Gnome panel pulls in gstreamer, Totem, gnome system tools, any many other "required" packages that aren't really necessary. What about Mandriva?
Looks like a nice release. Thanks for the help.