Your take on enabling Backports - Ubuntu

Ocky · Dec 17, 2008

I use Hardy, let's say I want the latest VLC, Firefox or OpenOffice, I would need to enable 'Backports' in the repos ? Probably not such a bright idea but I
would like to ask anyway. They will break the 'stable'(S) in an LTS release.

Backports is an official Ubuntu repository and maintained by knowledgeable Ubuntu developers who are often present on IRC and other communications media. But note that software in backports will not receive review or updates from the Ubuntu security team itself.

Backports candidates are tested by several Backports developers and community contributors before they are allowed to be placed in the repository. Backports packages are thus safer to use than the development distribution. At minimum the packages should be usable in a manner that the average Backports developer could test. However, given the nature of introducing newer versioned packages from a development distribution into a stable, released distribution, problems can arise. The most common side-effects would be a bug that escaped testing, or a new configuration file format (or other kind of incompatibility).
Due to the nature and purpose of Backports, it is not as "stable" as the previously mentioned update repositories, for a variety of reasons.
Backports are designed to provide new features. These new features may be unfamiliar to users and require a period of re-learning to become familiar with their favorite application again.
Backports may introduce differing configuration file options or behavior that may catch an administrator off guard. For this reason it's not encouraged to upgrade backports as a part of an automated procedure on high-stability production environments.
Backports are newer software by definition, and newer software tends to be tested by fewer people. The risk for an uncaught bug is increased.

In assessing the "stability" of backports, it's important to define the term stability first. In terms of "the behavior I see today is the same as the behavior I'll see after applying a bunch of backports updates", Backports is fairly unstable. New apps introduced via backports may have significantly changed behavior or interfaces. In terms of "applying a backport will completely break my system", Backports is fairly stable. A great deal of work goes into testing backports and it's highly unlikely for a backport to be a severe regression from the version it replaces.

The user should judge for himself if Backports are appropriate for his purposes.
Click to expand...

Mrkvonic · Dec 17, 2008

I would stay away, if you ask me. Having the latest and greatest might not be worth the chance of pain. If you have nothing to lose, don't mind being at the bleeding edge, then sure, go for it.

I prefer stability over anything else.

Mrk

NGRhodes · Dec 17, 2008

Mrkvonic said:

I would stay away, if you ask me. Having the latest and greatest might not be worth the chance of pain. If you have nothing to lose, don't mind being at the bleeding edge, then sure, go for it.

I prefer stability over anything else.

Mrk
Click to expand...

I have backports enabled, I see it of being of value when Hardy is 12 months old, they don't have a habbit of just throwing the latest software in (eg latest open office is not in).

Cheers.

Arup · Dec 17, 2008

If you are adventurous by all means go ahead, I go for stability and thus 99% of my stuff is installed from regular Ubuntu repos, only Open Office 3 is from launchpad.

Beavenburt · Dec 17, 2008

Mrkvonic said:

I would stay away, if you ask me. Having the latest and greatest might not be worth the chance of pain. If you have nothing to lose, don't mind being at the bleeding edge, then sure, go for it.

I prefer stability over anything else.

Mrk
Click to expand...

I agree. Thats the main reason I left Arch in the end and went Debian. Breakages are just too much of a pain in the ass to rectify.

NGRhodes · Jan 6, 2009

Good thing about back ports is they dont alter any of the system or libraries so chances of breaking anything apart from what you are install/updating are slim.

lewmur · Jan 6, 2009

Ocky said:

I use Hardy, let's say I want the latest VLC, Firefox or OpenOffice, I would need to enable 'Backports' in the repos ? Probably not such a bright idea but I
would like to ask anyway. They will break the 'stable'(S) in an LTS release.
Click to expand...

With the size of today's harddrives there is really no reason why you can't have your cake and eat it too. I have two partitions for my main distro. One stable and one experimental. When something new comes out, I install it on the experimental copy and test it thoroughly before I install it on the stable copy. If it does break something, I don't have to worry about diagnosing the problem. I just copy the stable version to the experimental partition and I'm back in business.

Ocky · Jan 7, 2009

lewmur said:

With the size of today's harddrives there is really no reason why you can't have your cake and eat it too. I have two partitions for my main distro. One stable and one experimental. When something new comes out, I install it on the experimental copy and test it thoroughly before I install it on the stable copy. If it does break something, I don't have to worry about diagnosing the problem. I just copy the stable version to the experimental partition and I'm back in business.
Click to expand...

Nifty way ! Probably better than testing in VirtualBox as there is absolutely no
guarantee that things working in VB will also work on the real HD.

Log in or Sign up

Your take on enabling Backports - Ubuntu

Ocky Registered Member

Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

NGRhodes Registered Member

Arup Guest

Beavenburt Registered Member

NGRhodes Registered Member

lewmur Registered Member

Ocky Registered Member

Log in or Sign up

Your take on enabling Backports - Ubuntu

Ocky Registered Member

Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

NGRhodes Registered Member

Arup Guest

Beavenburt Registered Member

NGRhodes Registered Member

lewmur Registered Member

Ocky Registered Member

Useful Searches