backports quality

[ankara]

I'm on Ubuntu 19.10 with repo "ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports" enabled, to use plasma 5.17.

1) Does backport mean worse stability than if it were in main repos, or is it barely the same?

2) Has backport the same significance in Ubuntu than in Debian or do they differ regarding stability, release schedules, architecture availability, etc?

I'm afraid of having issues for being an early adopter.

[Snowhog]

See https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-ppa/+...untu/backports and read the description, which includes a comment on the updates PPA instead.

[claydoh]

Kubuntu's PPAs are official repositories maintained and supported by the team.

The reason we have them is that Ubuntu is very strict about what goes into the standard repos. Usually new major versions are not allowed.

As KDE release updates fairly regularly, we need to use PPAs in order to provide users with new stuff.

As these are packaged by the Ubuntu devs they have the same quality as what is in the stock repos.

The term "backports" is definitely confusing as the term is used in official Ubuntu and Debian repos as an optional, special component.

In Kubuntu's backports pap (unrelated to the Ubuntu-backports), new major releases are "backported" from the current pre-release, upcoming version of Kubuntu to the current version.

The kubuntu updates ppa is usually for minor Plasma version updates, mainly for the LTS release, though there can be things for the current non-LTS there.



Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk

[acheron]

I should add to that, that the backport PPA recieves earlier point releases than we would consider shipping in the main repos for a release. e.g. say Plasma 5.17.0, 5.17.1, 5.17.2, etc, whereas in the main repos we would normally only ship with a release that has had more rounds upstream of bugfixes, such as 5.17.4/5. So there are likely to be more upstream or packaging bugs compared to the case of waiting and using what is shipped with the next Kubuntu release. Obviously over time the backports PPA gets more bugfix releases, so better approximates the stability of archive releases.

[mick.kde]

See https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-ppa/+...untu/backports and read the description, which includes a comment on the updates PPA instead.

Thank you. It's a simple, painless process and gives you access to the latest software.

Mick

[simonsaysthis]

Thank you. It's a simple, painless process and gives you access to the latest software.

Mick

Thanks for the great topic. Currently I have backports enabled and works flawslessly. Wanted to ask what happens once I am ready to upgrade to 20.04. Will I have to uninstall backports before upgrading to the next version of Kubuntu, or will a system upgrad be unaffected by backports?

[acheron]

Thanks for the great topic. Currently I have backports enabled and works flawslessly. Wanted to ask what happens once I am ready to upgrade to 20.04. Will I have to uninstall backports before upgrading to the next version of Kubuntu, or will a system upgrad be unaffected by backports?

Everything in the backports PPA is backported from the 20.04 version, but with the version string appended with ~ubuntu20.04. The ~ makes all those versions LESS than the version in the 20.04 main archive. Hence, in theory, you should be able to upgrade all the packages to the 20.04 main archive ones without issue.

If you want to be super cautious you can ppa-purge the backports PPA 1st, to restore to the stock versions of everything.

[simonsaysthis]

Everything in the backports PPA is backported from the 20.04 version, but with the version string appended with ~ubuntu20.04. The ~ makes all those versions LESS than the version in the 20.04 main archive. Hence, in theory, you should be able to upgrade all the packages to the 20.04 main archive ones without issue.

If you want to be super cautious you can ppa-purge the backports PPA 1st, to restore to the stock versions of everything.

Thanks for the clarification. I love the fact that you can purge the backports if all else fails

[claydoh]

Thanks for the great topic. Currently I have backports enabled and works flawslessly. Wanted to ask what happens once I am ready to upgrade to 20.04. Will I have to uninstall backports before upgrading to the next version of Kubuntu, or will a system upgrad be unaffected by backports?

When upgrading to a new release, all PPAs are disabled by the upgrader. It lets you know that it has done so. I have never had issues with any Kubuntu PPAs over many, many years now. These are run by the Kubuntu team, and there is actually some testing by users just for this.

Even with random other PPAs, I cannot recall having upgrade issues due to a wonky one. Surprising, really.

[kernelbasher]

Nice topic, interesting read