In light of the many misunderstandings about Linux, software repositories and installation of packages, part one of this season's Mandriva Linux 2006 review includes an extensive background article about it. It explains why the nature of Free Software leads to a more userfriendly software installation setup for Linux distributions in general, as compared to proprietary systems such as the current desktop market leader. The process is illustrated with Mandriva Linux tools. This first part of the Mandriva Linux 2006 review also contains information on the installation and benchmark figures against previous Mandriva/Mandrake products, amongst other things.
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Member since:Sure, and they of course will drop all the rest of their present affairs and devote their attention to me :-)
Yes, an end user distro, for which you paid, provides support. It's not news, especially for Mandriva.
I've had that trouble myself. My distro only had Gimp 2.0 while I wanted to install 2.2. I asked them to no avail.
You mean that to this day, they still do not have Gimp 2.2 ? Anyway, this has nothing to do with a flaw in the repos system. It still protects you from bad packages. You surely can find a non-official package, but you lose the safety of your distro provider.
So the repo system failed for me in this case. "Change your distro" is not the answer.
No it didn't, the only thing I see that failed here is your patience. Wait patiently is the answer. You can't have the cake and eat it too. A bleeding edge distro is not the same as an average user distro. Most distro even allow you to access their bleeding edge repos, but they warn you that you are no longer safe from broken packages, and must know what you are doing. So the repos is not at fault, your thirst for bleeding edge is.
But they do have their limitations:
1) inherent security of all software from repositories (EDIT: compared to the upstream versions) is a myth; 2) they don't contain ALL software that is produced, and the software they do contain does not always have the version a user needs.
Your point 1 is present in non-repo install too. But worse, perhaps it's a myth, but for now it's a fact. I already provided examples of people who tried to infect repository, they were detected and repelled.
So to this day, what you call a myth is still a fact.
In point 2, you make the mistake of "version a user needs", when you really think "bleeding edge version".
Being what it is, in FOSS, the latest version is (nearly) always the best with the most features. But it is bleeding edge and not always stable (not that it crashes, but API or calling arguments can change for example). Anyway, the version the user need will make its way to the distro one day.
Distro try to have a balance between stable and bleeding edge. When you master Linux more, you can then try bleeding edge distro, that still use repos, and can have the latest software version the day it's released (like mine or gentoo). We still use repos though, but our packages use the upstream to get the software.
So the repos never fail.
The only drawback of repos is that they have to be maintained.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing."The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run."There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Member since:
2005-10-18
The answer is simple enough : ask your distro provider or the app provider for a package.
Sure, and they of course will drop all the rest of their present affairs and devote their attention to me :-)
I've had that trouble myself. My distro only had Gimp 2.0 while I wanted to install 2.2. I asked them to no avail. So the repo system failed for me in this case. "Change your distro" is not the answer.
BTW you seem to somehow infer that I deny usefulness of repositories as such. That's not the case. The repos have their place and they are a great convenience for the user. At least for the core system software, they are clearly superior to the Windows' auto update system. But they do have their limitations: 1) inherent security of all software from repositories (EDIT: compared to the upstream versions) is a myth; 2) they don't contain ALL software that is produced, and the software they do contain does not always have the version a user needs.
Edited 2005-11-07 16:41