Ubuntu Policy: Don't fix bugs

[towsonu2003]

No, I don't mean "resolving bug reports" or similar. According to the update policy of Ubuntu, releases do NOT[1] get bug fix updates. So anything you get thru apt-get upgrade is only security fixes. Known, fixed bugs will not make their way into your computer, unless you look for them in launchpad.

One bug fix I had experience with was about keyboard layouts not being kept after reboot. An up-to-date .deb package was ready, and all you need to do was to install it. It was not an additional package, but an update to an existing package.

Nowadays, as I'm testing Dapper a few times a week, I keep finding and reporting bugs, which are not important enough to be fixed by package maintainers. Instead, they wait for upstream (the original coder of the package) to fix the issue.

This basically tells that Ubuntu maintainers are either not interested in, or not able to fix bugs in source code of other applications. But that's not my point.

The point here is that once Dapper gets released, it will not get ANY bug fixes during its suport cycle (for 5 years on the server side, and 3 years on the desktop side). Hoary and Breezy will never get bug fixes. (So, if you have bugs that really annoy you in a release, don't wait for apt-get/synaptic to fix it for you.)

Here is my question: should this policy change?

[1] http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=40291 says:

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 Hoary ships with Firefox 1.0.1, Hoary will remain at Firefox 1.0.1 for the entire 6-month release cycle, even if 1.0.2, 1.0.3, or 1.0.4 gets released during this time. The Ubuntu team may apply important security fixes to 1.0.1, but any new features or non-security bugfixes won't be made available to Hoary.

[drizek]

I think doing so would take time away from the dev team as they are working on packages for the next release.

Bug fixing updates should be available, but they shouldnt be a priority. At this stage, ubuntu is pretty young and i think it is more important to focus on moving it forwards than to keep supporting the older versions.

[endersshadow]

If you need bugfixes, it's easy enough to install them without using the Ubuntu repos.

Moreover, the backports project is doing exactly this. If this issue is important to you, please contribute to the backports project, as those repos are not maintained by Ubuntu devs, but rather the Ubuntu community does this to update software intermittently.

[BoyOfDestiny]

If there is a bug fix in an application, I'm assuming they have released a new version. Unless that was the only update, it's likely other changes could introduce new bugs. There is a reason they want to keep it "stable".

In terms of security updates, these are necessary so systems are not exploited. Valuable for most any user.

Now, if a specific app has a bug, why on earth would an Ubuntu dev be the one to fix it? Maybe they'd supply a patch, it should be the devs upstream that decide whether or not to apply it. If the bug is due to a maintainer packaging the software improperly (as with the issue I had with libbinio [missing package info or something], installing from source was my resolution to it), they should be responsible for fixing it.

If they just go applying changes instead of taking it upstream, then we would get varying ubuntu versions, duplication of work, possible other problems. I'm not saying they shouldn't submit code to fix it, I'm saying I don't want weird custom versions of various apps.

If you want a newer version of a package, build it or install it. It's as simple as that, use checkinstall and it will be a seamless upgrade too. Done that for scummvm, dosbox, and pan betas (since all of these are out of date in Dapper as is.)

[towsonu2003]

If you need bugfixes, it's easy enough to install them without using the Ubuntu repos.

Ease of use is irrelevant. But ease of finding the fix is. If bug fixes are sent thru the repos, users of one release will not have to hunt fixes for their bugged packages in launchpad.

Moreover, the backports project is doing exactly this. If this issue is important to you, please contribute to the backports project, as those repos are not maintained by Ubuntu devs, but rather the Ubuntu community does this to update software intermittently.

Backports is mainly oriented towards new features in packages, not fixing bugs in them or patching ubuntu devel-supported packages for bugs. They take newly released software, package it in a way that will not break ubuntu, and send it to backports.

If there is a bug fix in an application, I'm assuming they have released a new version. Unless that was the only update, it's likely other changes could introduce new bugs. There is a reason they want to keep it "stable".

We get "security only" updates (patches) that do not affect (theoretically) stability. Are you saying that bug-fixed package will decrease stability but a security-patched package will not?

In terms of security updates, these are necessary so systems are not exploited. Valuable for most any user.

To my observations in the forums, stability is equally important for users as is security.

Now, if a specific app has a bug, why on earth would an Ubuntu dev be the one to fix it?

Because they have the source code, the bug report in launchpad, and the ability and the knowledge to fix it.

Maybe they'd supply a patch, it should be the devs upstream that decide whether or not to apply it.

I agree. And what happens when an Ubuntu devel submit a code fix to the upstream and the upstream accepts it? We will not see that fix (patch) until the new Ubuntu release.

If the bug is due to a maintainer packaging the software improperly (as with the issue I had with libbinio [missing package info or something], installing from source was my resolution to it), they should be responsible for fixing it.

I don't believe distro developers are only responsible to fix their packaging of software. They are also responsible for maintaining and fixing that package as well. Why? Because the devel of that software was good enough to release it under the GPL and make it available for free for the distro devel. Wasn't the reason behind open source "anyone who wants can fix any bugs they observe"?

If they just go applying changes instead of taking it upstream, then we would get varying ubuntu versions, duplication of work, possible other problems. I'm not saying they shouldn't submit code to fix it, I'm saying I don't want weird custom versions of various apps.

this probably is just a misunderstanding. If a devel spots a bug (or spots a bug report in launchpad), s/he will let the devels of that package know of this bug. Hopefully, s/he will also contribute to the fixing of that bug.
Once the fix is accepted by the upstream, there is no reason why that fix can be sent to us (users of the distro) as an update to the package.

I'm not talking here about packaging the beta release of gaim or anything. What I am saying is this: imagine that:
1. you spotted a bug that crashes gaim
2. you report the bug on launchpad
3. with your input, ubuntu devel finds where that bug is, and hopefully fix it (at this point, we will not be getting any updates)
4. ubuntu devel let's upstream know of the bug and proposes the fix
5. ideally, upstream accepts the fix and incorporates it to their new release
6. ubuntu devel takes the fix (patch), applies it to the current ubuntu-release package, uploads the package to repos
7. we receive the patched package, which fixes the annoying bug you found some time ago.

Alternatively:
1. ubuntu devel spots a bug fix in the upstream that s/he would like to incorporate in ubuntu's package
2. ubuntu devel applies patch, sends package to repo
3. we get the update thru repos.

If you want a newer version of a package, build it or install it. It's as simple as that, use checkinstall and it will be a seamless upgrade too.

Again, I'm not talking about new versions. I'm also not happy to be treated like a noob (though I still am new to linux) who rants because he ants a new version of a package. To make it as clear to you as possible, here is a version numbering scheme for gaim. First one is our imagined gaim version that crashes, second is the gaim to which ubuntu devel applied the fix:

gaim 1:1.5.0-1ubuntu3
gaim 1:1.5.0-1ubuntu4

Notice that the version did not change, and we did not get any new features (and hence, no new bugs introduced by new features).

Gaim is an example because I keep seeing posts requesting the beta version to be released. I myself cannot use gaim almost at all, because almost all the ports except 80 and 443 are blocked by my isp.

Also, we shouldn't downplay the importance of distro developers for the open source community. They have the means and the ability to fix bugs, and they should fix bugs and send them upstream when they can. Although I can find the link to prove, the current kernel 2.6 series depend on distro developers to fix and patch the kernel for bug fixes. That is why kernel doesn't have the 2.7 development branch. Linus assumes now that distro devels will fix the kernel and send those fixes to 2.6 branch for approval.

See slashdot for a recent news about that (kernel getting buggier, because neither the distro developers, nor the kernel developers are interested in patching old bugs in the new kernel).

I'm hoping my point is now understood.

Bug fixing updates should be available, but they shouldnt be a priority.

I agree. I don't see any disadvantages for them to send us the bug fixes when they are able to fix the bugs.

[Kvark]

I think the devs should fix bugs in the development release and send the patches to backports if they think older releases have the same bug. Backports should make the bug fixes from the development release available in stable releases when possible.

[ubuntu_demon]

I voted no because :

-there's backports (I hope all problems are over and backports will be released more often than was the case for breezy)
-fixing all minor bugs takes a lot of time and that time should be invested into the new release
-if there are major bugs they will fix them. See this part of the Dapper sources.list :

## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates main restricted

[Dr. C]

I voted no. Keep the policy as it is.

I can see this becoming a lot of extra work and there are many alternatives for users to fix minor bugs as has already being mentioned here.

[Stormy Eyes]

There are already provisions for providing fixes for major bugs to users of existing releases. What's the big deal? Chances are that most of the power users will switch to Edgy after a week in Dapper anyway.

[towsonu2003]

There are already provisions for providing fixes for major bugs to users of existing releases.

I'm not sure. Here's an example: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bug/24506

Bug in question is regarding localization (Turkish keyboard layout). Bug is fixed with a small updated .deb package for Breezy, but the updated package never went to the repos. Any Turkish keyboard layout user would have problems with this if s/he never browsed launchpad to find this particular package.