On 03/04/2012 03:34 PM, Stuart McGraw wrote: > One of the reason for using Fedora is quick access > to the latest software -- sometimes even too quick > (hence the "bleeding edge" moniker.) > > But I have noticed this is not true for some things. yes and no. imo anyway. Leading edge and bleeding edge can be a little different. Leading edge is latest current versions of existing software - bleeding edge tends to include new "stuff' which differs significantly from the past - either completely new things, or non-compatible changes in existing things. At Fedora release time, reasonably updated versions of many existing packages make it in - provided the upstream release is ahead of the appropriate freeze date. These 'compatible' versions tend to be reasonably up to date (tho not always) - whether they remain so for the next 3-4 months is up to the packager - as you have found - some do some don't - you may need to wait for the next fedora release (once its out) to get the then 'latest' versions. In addition, existing software which has incompatible versions may make it with sufficient lead time (python 3 for example) - tho you should anticipate delays of a (fedora) version (or 2) now and again. So its possible these can be a few months behind. Fedora is pretty conservative (i.e. careful) in not taking such updates for fear of breaking things. So these are not too bleeding. Lastly - the 'new stuff' - the experimental lab for new ideas - these tend to get in - sometimes with a delay (e.g systemd was delayed from 14 to 15) sometimes with little delay (e.g. gnome 3 was really pre-release when it first went in). This category tends to cause the most pain and its where fedora tends to bleed. Perhaps its because fedora is one of the incubators of ideas - or perhaps it's for other reasons. Also, it is not uncommon here for the 'newest' version not to be brought back to prior fedora version - so you really need to keep updating to avoid older stuff here - and if you avoid rawhide - again you may need to wait 3-4 months for the next fedora release to get the updated versions. rawhide - certainly in the early phases - is not really a distro as much as a development build area for the next release - things are put in without regard to marginal interaction or stability or other than unit testing (perhaps not even that for some). Majority of fedora users avoid rawhide for this reason - it can be very unstable at times - tho not always. If you're looking for a pretty stable distro with the latest software (but not wanting the experimental stuff until those have matured and been more broadly accepted) you really can't get it with fedora, imho. If that is your goal you may want to explore some of the rolling releases - which can be very stable and running latest software. Some would argue not necessarily as stable as Fedora could be without the experimental stuff - but could well be more stable than fedora as it actually is with the experimental stuff when it is included. An advantage the rolling release guys have - is when they have one of those incompatible changes - it tends to be the only thing that they focus on - so its a marginal change. So as always - you have a choice to make with tradeoffs - obviously only you can judge which tradeoffs work best for you. gene -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
