2

I have noticed since I install Ubuntu 11.10 that updates keep coming every 1 or 2 days. Not just normal 1MB or less updates but some like 20MB, 40MB, 50MB.

Just to add I always activate all the repositories (Universe, Multiverse...) and only add the WineHQ PPA. I have used Ubuntu since 5.04 and started studying how frequently updates come since 9.10. Typically, updates came almost once a week and they were between 100KB to 25MB. Sometimes to get to 30MB it would have to passed 2 weeks at least.

I have to say Ubuntu 11.10 in less than a month has received more than 200 updates which is a lot in comparison to 11.04, 10.10 or 10.04. At least in my case all bugs I tried to report were either solved the next day or before the end of the week (Sharing Network, Launcher bugs, video bugs, calendar bugs...).

So I wonder why is 11.10 being worked on so much faster (and efficient) and why. Does it involve using it as base for 12.04, will this type of development continue with future versions, will something big in the future come to surprise the Ubuntu community?

4
  • There probably are plenty of updates because it recently got released. The updates will probably be less after the initial issues have been reported and fixed.
    – Anonymous
    Oct 25, 2011 at 17:50
  • 1
    This is a highly subjective question. However, something I've noticed is a lot of bugs that didn't make it for release are now getting killed. I think it's partly because the next release is an LTS, and so they want to get as much done to 11.10 before 12.04 gets really rollin'.
    – jrg
    Oct 25, 2011 at 17:51
  • I'd imagine that the switch to GNOME 3 has something to do with this. That is a major change for the whole desktop, and I would not be surprised if a lot of unfixed bugs got into the final release that they just couldn't get to yet. Oct 25, 2011 at 18:48
  • As far as I know, every release has this. With 9.10 and 10.10 I noticed a huge amount of updates in the first few days - easily 200MB after a couple of weeks. (I did not use 10.04 in live and I still only have 11.04 in test vms, so maybe this is something that only hits the .10 releases! :) )
    – Joe P
    Oct 25, 2011 at 20:11

1 Answer 1

2

This is a very subjective question and there is no correct answer as such.

Today I got a huge update as opposed to many small updates which used to arrive. Our rate and update size will differ based on the applications installed. I have noticed that they have fixed more bugs this cycle. Previous cycle was more about Get Unity up and running and make it stable enough to be minimally usable. This cycle was about Get Unity usable and fix big, small bugs. Probably the workload on Desktop team was less, so enough attention was given to other packages too. This might explain the more bug fixing. My statement that more bugs were fixed is just a personal experience.

As you asked whether is will be a base for 12.04? Ubuntu does not take the previous release and start working on it. Every time after the release when development is open, there is a package sync period from Debian. Usually sync happens from Debian unstable for regular releases. Since 12.04 is an LTS, it will be based on Debian testing rather than Debian unstable

It is true that they carry forward the patchset and all the improvements from previous cycle, but those are a very small percentage of the whole archive changes. Debian moves ahead in 6 months and updating old packages is an enormous task, so they just sync from debian every time.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .