Re: Online Update vs System Update?

Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
Pat wrote:
houghi wrote:
Pat wrote:
Well, I'm primarily thinking of updates, since these normally contain
bug fixes and security improvements that make an application more
stable.
You are confusing two things. New features and security fixes.

Well, I just came from the Windows worlds where MS updates often
included both! ;^)

So I take it security fixes and bug fixes are treated separately?

It's just that openSUSE treats them that way. When a new version of a
program comes out, openSUSE won't include it if it has a different minor
version. It only includes new patch versions.

Yes, that's not good. But it means less work for the openSUSE
maintainers. Yes, I think they're lazy.

Not lazy... but smart.

Do you really want a new version of a product with new configuration
syntax, etc. to decimate your environment (potentially)?

Feature adds create instability. Obviously nothing prevents someone
from downloading source, etc. and moving off of the normal support
path. But by NOT doing new features as a regular part of supported
updates, this keeps the platform "supportable".

Call it lazy or whatever, nobody can support 1,000,000+ different
configurations (which is what you'd have if everyone was running
at various different levels of individual products).

This practice is not being done out of laziness, but rather what
is feasible.
.

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