Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 27th Oct 2009 15:23 UTC, submitted by diegocg
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"You are not obliged to install the latest release. You can wait for a point release if you think it's going to break anything.
Doesn't mean anything if it's a point release or not when it comes to Linux. A good majority of the issues with new versions of X.org screwing up installs relate to packaging issues by the Linux vendors, not X.org itself. 7.5 may work like a breeze but 7.5.1 may break everything if the packagers are careless, I've seen this happen more than once with X, the kernel, and GNOME just to name a few. That's a big reason you don't update immediately or use a rolling release system in a production setting, you just don't know what bugs the distro-specific patches and packaging has created or unearthed in the code. "
To be fair, that's true of other platforms too. I was under the impression that it's a good rule of thumb in general to never be a first-adopter when reliability is important. I think our internal IT department stages and tests Windows patches too, for exactly that reason. So, that's not really an X-specific gripe, but it's true of software in general.
And the original point still stands: no-one's standing behind you with a gun to your head, demanding that you install the new X server.




Member since:
2008-07-15
Doesn't mean anything if it's a point release or not when it comes to Linux. A good majority of the issues with new versions of X.org screwing up installs relate to packaging issues by the Linux vendors, not X.org itself. 7.5 may work like a breeze but 7.5.1 may break everything if the packagers are careless, I've seen this happen more than once with X, the kernel, and GNOME just to name a few. That's a big reason you don't update immediately or use a rolling release system in a production setting, you just don't know what bugs the distro-specific patches and packaging has created or unearthed in the code.