Frank Cox wrote:
Those are great for server apps that were feature complete ages ago but
not so great for desktops apps receiving a lot of current attention. By
next year the Firefox, OpenOffice, Evolution, etc. versions they include
will be way, way out of date instead of just slightly outdated like they
are now. Does firefox 1.5 sound current to anyone here? Would you want
to be stuck with it until the next Centos release?
You are asking for something that is logically inconsistent.
1. You want absolutely stable software.
I want a stable kernel and device drivers. The unix-like system call
interface doesn't need to change every week.
2. You want the latest-and-greatest software.
I want current applications. These are very different things. A bug in
user space doesn't kill the machine.
Though you try to sound like you are an "old hand" with computers and system
administration, this demand makes it appear that you don't have the experience
that you are claiming to have.
By definition, the latest-and-greatest software is not going to be rock-solid
stable. That's why it's called "cutting edge" -- you can sometimes get cut
when you use it.
That's why I want a split between kernel and apps.
You must make a choice here.
Only because of the bundling choices made for fedora and RHEL. It
doesn't have to be bundled that way.
You have failed to make that choice, and want both. Sorry. It just doesn't
work that way. "I demand a dog, but it has to look exactly like a cat."
No. You can't have it.
I can't have it until someone bundles the set I want, or teaches a
package manager to install more than one version of an application on a
machine at a time. But apparently it hasn't occurred to anyone else
that a distribution that contained firefox 2.x and didn't crash after
updates would be desirable. So I have to keep repeating it.
I realize that you are probably disappointed by this, but it's simply the
nature of the way that software development works in real life.
No, the fedora scheme is pretty unique.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
