The big news in the Linux world, or at least the most popular news, over the past week has been the release of not one but two new versions of the biggest and most popular Linux distributions around. The first was the release of Mandrake 9.0 with the real giant Red Hat releasing its version, 8.0, a few days later.
Upgrade blues
Alastair Otter, Journalist, ITWeb
Linux mailing lists, both locally and internationally, were quickly filled with requests for copies of either or both of the distributions. As is usually the case, servers around the world are swamped within minutes of the new releases being made available, and it is a something of a status symbol to have downloaded copies despite the congestion. So, most people take the easier route, which is to find someone with the software and then get copies made.
While it is intriguing to see how many people can`t wait to get their hands on a new version of their favourite Linux distribution, it does also raise a question in my mind that I don`t have the answer to. Why is it that computer users are always so eager to upgrade their machines?
I, for one, have spent the best part of the last year configuring and tweaking my own (Mandrake) system to get it to do exactly what I want it to do. It now has everything where I want it to be and the security system is as tight as I can hope to get it. It has taken a very long time and many hours of fiddling to get it to this stage and I`m happy with it as it is. So why would I want to immediately rush out and start all over again from scratch, just because Mandrake 9.0 and Red Hat 8.0 have a few new nifty features that my current machine doesn`t?
It doesn`t make a lot of sense to me, but then I`ve come to rely on two essential tools on my machine that to my mind all but eliminate the need for a wholesale upgrade every couple of months or so: Ximian`s RedCarpet and MandrakeUpdate. In many ways they do a very similar job but with slightly different objectives.
Ximian`s RedCarpet is an update tool that checks for new software and suggests what can be upgraded and what ought to be upgraded because of security flaws. It is an attractive tool which makes resolving dependencies and locating the software as easy as possible.
Similarly, MandrakeUpdate checks for new software and suggests upgrades. What makes MandrakeUpdate so popular with me is that I can choose between the types of updates I want. So for example, I can only check for security improvements. Or for general updates, or even better, when I feel like being on the cutting-edge of Mandrake development, the cooker updates. The cooker is the name given by Mandrake to its development releases, so if you`re prepared to run on the bleeding-edge, then this is the way.
What I wonder about those users that madly rush after every release is whether they ever get any real work done? As much as I like tinkering with my computer and customising it to my heart`s content, I also need to get work done on it and I don`t have endless hours to re-do everything every few months.
The beauty of the open source movement is that you don`t have to wait for some large commercial company to release a new version of software and then do a wholesale re-install. If you really want a particular new piece of software, that may later be part of a large release, you can generally get your hands on it and install it from source.
Perhaps some people are lucky enough to have spare computers lying around to test every new distribution as it comes out, but I know that in my house every machine is set up for a specific job and even mentioning a possible upgrade is frowned upon. Besides, upgrades cause untold trauma when files go missing because they weren`t backed up properly, or are deleted by mistake.
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