From: ldo@nz.invalid   
      
   On Thu, 27 Mar 2025 08:34:11 +0000, Richard Kettlewell wrote:   
      
   > 19 months being “very out-dated” is JWZ’s viewpoint. It wasn’t the   
   > distribution’s view and wasn’t (and still isn’t) the view of a large   
   > chunk of end users, who (collectively) often complain about having to   
   > upgrade.   
      
   This is why you have such a range of different styles of upgrade frequency   
   among distros. In Debian itself, you have a “stable” release (about every   
   2 years), with in-between rolling “testing”, or even “unstable” if you   
   want to live right on the edge. Ubuntu and Fedora come out with entirely   
   new releases every six months. And so on. Different strokes for different   
   folks: you are free not only to choose, but also to change your mind.   
      
   > Some software does legitimately have a very short upgrade cycle, even   
   > disregarding security issues. For example, the timezone database, where   
   > civil authorities have a tendency to make rather short-notice   
   > changes. I’m not convinced that a screensaver should really fall into   
   > this category. But that’s another question.   
      
   The timezone database contains no code, only data in the form of   
   declarative rules about timezone offsets and names and daylight saving   
   transitions, and the history of when particular rules came into effect or   
   were replaced. That makes it easier to keep up-to-date.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)