[新闻]MEPIS to switch from Ubuntu to Debian

[zhuqin_83]

http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6170488551.html

大意是：由于dapper更新不勤快，一个版本的系统不能一直更新，而非要版本升级才能用上最新的软件。ubuntu越来越和debian不能二进制兼容，而仅仅是源代码兼容，也不够稳定。所以觉得转回debian 4.0，以后的软件包将综合debian和ubuntu的，哪个好用哪个（感觉他很省劲，现成的拿来比较一下，就放到自己的库里）。

Jul. 30, 2007

SimplyMEPIS, a very popular desktop Linux, is going to change back to using Debian Linux for its core from Ubuntu. In March of 2006, MEPIS founder Warren Woodford, decided to switch to Ubuntu from Debian for the next version of SimplyMEPIS, version 6.0. The plan was to use Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Long Term Service), aka Dapper Drake, as MEPIS' foundation.

Woodford made this move because Ubuntu has a six-month stable release cycle that will enable MEPIS to offer its customers a dependable release schedule, Woodford explained at the time. "The switch to the Ubuntu pools was made to provide our users with a more stable underlying system," he said.

Things have changed. "Dapper was not updated in the way our users expected," Woodford said. "Personally, I think the Ubuntu people spoke sincerely and accurately, but perhaps ambiguously. So there was a misunderstanding among users. The fact is Dapper was updated with security fixes, but not with new versions of the applications."

At first, Woodford worked around this. "In 6.5 [the next released version of MEPIS] I attempted to create an incremental path forward for MEPIS and Dapper by compiling newer versions of applications for the 6.0 base, and with a lot of work I succeeded for that release. However, along the way I discovered that many of the packages in the Ubuntu Dapper pools were greatly out of date and not very useful to MEPIS and Dapper users."

You might ask: Why doesn't Woodford make the six-month releases of Ubuntu, such as the recently launched Feisty Fawn, Ubuntu 7.04, MEPIS' foundation?

Woodford explained that Ubuntu is rebuilt almost from scratch every six months using source packages from Debian EXPERIMENTAL. "This is a wonderful thing from the point of view of improving the Debian EXPERIMENTAL code. Over time the improvements will make their way through Debian Unstable, Debian Testing and finally to Debian Stable."

But, Woodford said, for MEPIS users this means that Ubuntu does not provide a foundation for long term incremental upgrades. "Ubuntu is almost a whole new distro each time it's released," he said. "By using the EXPERIMENTAL code, each and every time, the Ubuntu code tree is inherently less stable than the Debian code tree, which contains additional levels of testing and vetting and fixing of code."

Woodford said that sometimes the Ubuntu tree contains desirable newer versions of major user applications, and the major user applications, such as Firefox and OpenOffice, come from upstream sources where the code was already stable.

So it is that Woodford has decided to go back to Debian for MEPIS' Linux heard. In particular, he will be using Debian GNU/Linux version 4.0—code-named Etch.

"For the next release of MEPIS, we are using a common core based on Debian. As usual, we will have a MEPIS kernel optimized for performance and out-of-the-box hardware compatibility," Woodford said.

When it comes to applications, Woodford will be using either up-to-date binaries or compile either the "Debian or Ubuntu variant of the source code, using whichever appears to be the best compromise of up-to-date and stable code."

Woodford has also found that although Ubuntu is source compatible with Debian, it is becoming less and less binary compatible with Debian. "This was not obvious over a year ago, but it is very obvious now," he said.

What all this means for users is that, "This new process will allow us to have a major release that can be incrementally updated for two years," Woodford said.

The first test release of the new Debian-based SimplyMEPIS is expected to appear in early August.


—Steven J. Vaughan Nichols

[zhuqin_83]

对我们ubuntu用户而言，和debian的二进制兼容倒没啥，只要ubuntu一直是世界最流行的Linux发行版，不愁没人专门编译ubuntu专用的deb包。

但是，就算6个月版本更新一次，我们还是会觉得是以系统的稳定性为代价才做到的，要是一个版本能做那么几年，LTS版本的软件、内核一直能够不断更新——就算不是最新，也至少不要落后太多，我们重装系统的次数也会相应减少。

只是目前看来不太现实吧，每一次版本的变换都带来了非常多的更新，从里到外，恐怕一个版本要靠升级到这种地步有不少困难，也不容易控制，至少基础架构不太好弄吧，如果一个地方要改动，会牵扯到的地方会很多，还不如整个升级；其他一般应用软件的更新应该不算难事。按照内核和gnome的更新速度，半年出一次是很适当的。

我倒是希望ubuntu应用软件能更新快一点，这样我们可以一直使用最新潮的东西——当然也可能使系统更不稳定:D。

[flyinflash]

兼容，不兼容，跟MS有点像，又有点不像？

好的东西总是向上和向下兼容的，还有向左右兼容的，只是多几行代码，多点麻烦而已。

[karron]

说实话, 内核我觉得没有必要经常升级, 除了对你的硬件支持不好. 而软件我认为还是要保持最新的才好.

怎么说呢, 稳定和新本来就是一个矛盾体. 对于桌面用户来说, 我认为ubuntu是最好的选择之一, 因为发展迅速, 软件够新. debian的release版本太老了, 用它当桌面实在是找罪受. 所以很多人都是用的testing, 甚至sid, sid这样的版本一直处于最新的, 稳定性更差, 比目前的710测试版估计有过之而无不及.

并且, ubuntu每两年会发布LTS版本 , 也满足了追求稳定的用户和企业用户的需求, 而每年发布两次的最新版本, 则可以满足普通桌面用户的需求, 我觉得这样的规划是一个很完美的折中考虑.

另外, 很多人喜欢说ubuntu不稳定, 我觉得其实还是很稳定的, 大部分所谓的问题, 不过是电脑与椅子中间的问题而已. 因为ubuntu的用户的平均水平相对其它流行发行版(也许不包括fedora, 因为我注意到一个事实, 每次fedora新版发布, 我在linuxsir里面看到都是一个个兴高采烈地在虚拟机里面安装, 截图....)的人要低, 这是一个事实.

[zhuqin_83]

大部分所谓的问题, 不过是电脑与椅子中间的问题而已

fedora么，就让小白们兴高采烈的用去吧。