Release-Critical Bugs Delay Release of Debian Lenny

by Lisa Hoover - Oct. 13, 2008Comments (11)

Debian

Debian Lenny was originally scheduled for release in September. Now that we're well into October, Debian developer Alexander Reichle-Schmehl admits that plan was "too optimistic." Although there are still over 200 release-critical bugs still waiting to be patched, if the Debian community is willing to step up, Lenny can see the light of day sooner rather than later.

Reichle-Schmehl says in order to get Lenny out the door, the project needs people willing to "Fix rc-bugs, take care, that the fixed packages are migrated to 'Lenny', do upgrade tests, [and] document problems in the release-notes."

Even users with no developer skills can still help by simply taking Lenny for a test drive and reporting any problems to the team. Reichle-Schmehl is also looking for people to join the translation team.

Although Reichle-Schmehl didn't say when he expects Lenny to ship, Debian project leader Steve McIntyre says it won't take as long as some predict. McIntyre told The Register that the team is working on the release-critical bugs as fast as possible and also considering dropping some packages from the release if necessary.

"As for exact timing, I can't promise anything. I'd love to see Lenny out before the end of the month, but we'll have to see," said McIntyre.


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11 Comments
 

Run, Lenny, Run! Jhu can do it!

0 Votes

This is the time for the community to step up. There is a clear plan on how "casual" users can assist to. Let us see how the community rises to this challenge!!

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So, the release got delayed...What's the big frickkin' deal?? Let me know the last time a product (of some consequence) was released on the date it was supposed to...

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Etch took "only" 21 months to release - not sure what the count is for Lenny..

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What's the hurry...

Is better wait than a bad OS.

Meanwhile Etch is up to date for server and lenny/sid for home users.

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> Etch took "only" 21 months to release - not sure what the count is for Lenny..

A kernel bug was the major blocker. And you have to admit that etch was released much faster than sarge :D

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Oh, man, don't even talk about the sarge release timeframe. That was unbelievable. Most other distributions were shipping 2.6 kernels, and Debian hadn't yet managed to ship a release with the aging 2.4 series kernel, a level of delay almost worthy of Microsoft.

Presumably lenny won't take *that* long. (It had better not. I'll jump ship to another distribution if it goes much past the end of 2009.)

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Etch was released in 8. April 2007, so Debian has just barely missed the chance to release Lenny exactly 18 months after Etch. I think 18 months was the rough internal goal that Debian developers targeted for pushing Lenny out of the oven, although they always said people could expect Lenny "in the second half of 2008".

I think stable Debian releases are best suited for server use (and maybe also for corporate and production desktops that require rock solid stability) because programs are not updated to new versions until the next stable Debian release comes out. Some say that Ubuntu is Debian for desktop use, but I've found that Debian's "testing" branch (that is the constantly updated development version of Debian from which new stable releases are made) is a very good option for my home desktop.

If I'm correct in assuming that stable Debian releases are mainly aimed for server use, then it's definitely better to delay the release and fix all the reported important bugs than to rush the release out in order to meet some arbitrary release deadline. Surely you don't want to upgrade your important servers until you're absolutely sure that the new version will work without any problems.

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each debian release is gold, but each debian release date is delayed. so this time it is no surprise. it's about a big community, lot of works, strict quality adherence. with that said, it may take couple of months to release lenny.


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If you're impatient for an up-to-date and stable Debian release, you can always download a Kubuntu image for the time being: http://www.kubuntu.org/

Or request an installation CD free of charge: https://shipit.kubuntu.org/


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If you're impatient with an up-to-date and stable Debian release, you can always download a Lenny image for the time being at http://debian.org


You can also get a license so that you can own your own computer.l


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