kubuntu repos and ppas becoming very confusing

[bailout]

Is anyone else finding the naming of kubuntu repos confusing? In the update section of kpackagemanager I see 'Important security updates' and 'Reccomended updates' which iirc were enabled by default. Then there are 'Proposed updates' and 'Unsupported updates'. On the help page here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Kubuntu that the kubuntu release info links to, 'proposed updates' is called 'Pre-released updates' and according to that page 'Unsupported updates' is actually the 'backports' repo.

Then the ppa repos add more confusion with a backports ppa for example.

Firstly I think kpackagemanager should call the backports repo backports rather than 'unsupported updates'. Secondly if there are backports repo and 'proposed updates' are unstable testing packages why are releases like kde4.4 released through ppas?

I know ubuntu has restrictions on releasing updates into the main repos between releases but thought that backports was to facilitate that and that proposed was for unstable packages still in testing. Couldn't kde4.4 have been put into 'proposed' and then into the main backports repo when found to be stable?

I am obviously not in the developer 'loop' so there may be very good reasons for the way it is done that I don't know of but as a user I am finding it is becoming difficult to understand.

[Rog131]

Re: kubuntu repos and ppas becoming very confusing

The > UbuntuBackports is telling:

Ubuntu releases a new version of its OS every 6 months. After a release, the version of all packages stays constant for the entire 6 months. For example, if Ubuntu ships with OpenOffice.org 2.0.x, it will remain at OpenOffice.org 2.0.x for the entire 6-month release cycle, even if a later version gets released during this time. The Ubuntu team may apply important security fixes to 2.0.x, but any new features or non-security bugfixes will not be made available...

The KDE 4.4 is not a bugfix release. It is new release with lot of new features (and bugs).

The PPA repositories are a handy way to offer new packages for those who want to test. All PPA packages are more or less experimental (> Updates, upgrades, and PPA's, oh my....) - be warned.


More/earlier:
> Topic: Lucid Release Schedule, Plans, KDE 4.4
> Topic: Karmic Release Schedule, Plans, KDE 4.3
> Why isn't KDE 4.3.3/4.3.4/4.3.5 in the -updates
> Kubuntu Updates Policy
> Topic: FAQ: Repositories

[claydoh]

Re: kubuntu repos and ppas becoming very confusing

Backports are unsupported (what does 'backport' mean to the general public?), and are labeled as such in *buntu. They are actually maintained by a separate group more or less, and are packages from the Development version re-packaged for the current version.

This can make it really difficult to do for an entire desktop environment, which in Kubuntu's case includes qt, kdelibs, and various other libraries. What may work in a Lucid environment may not work within Karmic's set of core packages. So Kubuntu's devs had to set up ppa's for their packages.

This is as much to keep a stock *buntu setup stable as it is to give users the chance to get Cool New Things while still keeping to Ubuntu's packaging/versioning/updating/backporting policies. All the distros do something similar. Doesn't make it less complicated, to be honest, but there are reasons and purposes for it being this way.