[clue-tech] Ubuntu repositories

[David L. Anselmi]

Louis Miller wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I looked on the Ubuntu wiki, about the Ubuntu repositories. Since, I dislike Karmic Koala, and
> want to continue using Jaunty Jackalope for the foreseeable future, I wondered how recent the
> versions of software would be.

During the release cycle there comes a point at which the software versions for that release are 
decided.  They don't change after that.  The only updates you will get are security patches for the 
versions in the release.  (Sometimes that's not entirely true but if you assume it always is you'll 
have the right idea.)

This is the way that most distros work.  It's the way that Solaris and Windows work.  The philosophy 
is that you don't get new software until you upgrade to a new release.

> If that is right, then what are my options for installing newer software?

You either have to get a distro with an upgrade cycle that fits your needs (Debian is 2+ years, 
Ubuntu is 6 months, Centos seems like forever), or you use a repository that is continually updated. 
  Gentoo seems to do that.  Debian testing and unstable do that (mostly).

> The website seems to suggest that installing newer software on an older version of Ubuntu would
> make the system unstable. Is there any truth to that?

The new software may not work, and things that depend on it might not work.  There also might not be 
an upgrade path that works.

> I guess if you are installing software that has been tested thoroughly and the OS has been tested
> thoroughly, then it should all work flawlessly.

The vast majority of software is not tested thoroughly.  If the dependencies are well defined you 
won't be able to install anything that will break badly.  But you're trying to do something that the 
maintainers don't care about so they aren't going to work hard at getting the dependencies right for 
your case.

> I went into software sources, and there doesn't seem to be a way to enable repositories from
> newer versions. I'm still using Jaunty Jackalope on my desktop. Has anyone else had this
> problem?

The GUI might not make it easy but any repository can be used.  If you can't find a way to specify 
something by hand you can always edit sources.list(5) by hand.

Dave