Are Vanilla Dpup releases suppose to be stable? No testing needed?

[bigpup]

Vanilla Dpup has weekly releases with stability and security fixes from woof-CE and Debian; you decide if and when to update

So at what release was all the bugs fixed?

Maybe I am missing something about this operating system.

To me it would seem to need to provide one completely stable version, fully bug fixed, and everything in it just works.

Then if the update release brakes something, you know that release introduced the bug.

Or is this just a rolling test release of the fixes and changes that get into Woof-CE?

[dimkr]

That's not how software engineering works, sorry. I can't release a 100% bug-free release. Nobody can.

Fossapup 9.5 has no new releases, and becomes less and less secure over time, as new security issues are discovered. And all known issues just stay there: they don't get fixed. That's a kind of stability I don't value much, and prefer something that becomes more stable as time goes by. (For example, 9.5 can't run AppImage as spot by default, and that fix went into Vanilla Dpup 9.2.18)

To achieve enduring stability and security, I can release small, incremental releases with small, well-documented and safe fixes (viewtopic.php?t=6105), but no new features that can introduces new issues, so the number of bugs decreases over time. To protect Vanilla Dpup against new features and new issues in woof-CE, it's built from a stable fork created at the time 9.2.0 was released (https://github.com/vanilla-dpup/woof-CE ... dpup-9.2.x), and I only cherry-pick some bug fixes.

A "rolling release" distro means you also get new features and new issues, so the ratio between new issues and fixed issues is unlikely to decrease over time. That's not the case here: Debian 11 is frozen and receives only fixes, and Vanilla Dpup tracks these fixes.

If you want to stick to a single Puppy release and never update, you're free to do that, but you won't receive fixes for security issues and bugs that affect the release you chose.

[Tahrbaby]

That's not how software engineering works, sorry. I can't release a 100% bug-free release. Nobody can.

A "rolling release" distro means you also get new features and new issues, so the ratio between new issues and fixed issues is unlikely to decrease over time. That's not the case here: Debian 11 is frozen and receives only fixes, and Vanilla Dpup tracks these fixes.

If you want to stick to a single Puppy release and never update, you're free to do that, but you won't receive fixes for security issues and bugs that affect the release you chose.

The obvious and safe way forward.
Who wants to run an outdated unsafe OS this day and age?
Vanilla Dpup is excellent and I thank you for all your week by week security fixes and hard graft to keep it safe

[bigpup]

@dimkr

I do understand that no operating system is ever released as 100% perfect.
But the final release, is usually only having minor bugs, that do not really affect normal operation, to do anything.

Thanks for that info on what this Puppy version is and why it gets weekly updates.

The main reason I asked about testing needed for these weekly releases.

I have found issues with stuff, but not sure to really report it or just wait for the next weekly update.

I did report my booting issue, because it kept showing up in different versions:
viewtopic.php?t=6785

That did get fixed with the release of v9.2.15
But by what the problem fix turned out to be.
I do not think it would have been fixed, if I did not report it.

I guess a good guide to follow.
If the issue keeps showing up, after several new updates.
Need to report it.

Thanks!

[bigpup]

I do consider this Vanilla Dpup to be the latest version of Puppy Linux.

For sure, it seems to be the only one using the latest bug fixes and tweaking, that has been done in Woof-CE.

[Grey]

Nobody can.

It's true.

(For example, 9.5 can't run AppImage as spot by default, and that fix went into Vanilla Dpup 9.2.18)

Yes, I have known for a long time, but I did not attach importance.

and Vanilla Dpup

I would be glad to switch to this system, but for a number of reasons I can't yet. Although if anything, most likely I will return to the CInnamon version of Mint.

[dimkr]

I do not think it would have been fixed, if I did not report it.

If the issue keeps showing up, after several new updates.

No Puppy is perfect, and the number of known issues will always be >0. Keep reporting them, and I will fix them.

[peebee]

For sure, it seems to be the only one using the latest bug fixes and tweaking, that has been done in Woof-CE.

FYI: ScPup, LxPupSc, VoidPup & JammyPup32 all use the latest version of Woof-CE......... but applied to a fairly "traditional" Puppy feature set that has had many years (decades) of testing

"New" features appearing in Woof-CE such as GTK3, PipeWire, OverlayFS, Wayland and Flatpak have not yet received the same level of testing when used in a Puppy context

[dimkr]

Vanilla Dpup 9.2.x has none of these features, except Flatpak support (not installed by default, and has limitations) and GTK+ 3, but with four exceptions: two (if I remember correctly) problematic JWM configuration tools break with GTK+ 3, so they use GTK+ 2. In addition, ROX-Filer and Sylpheed use GTK+ 2. I wouldn't say GTK+ 3 is unstable or experimental: all modern browsers have been using GTK+ 3 for years.

10.0.0 will feature PipeWire instead of PulseAudio, overlay, Wayland and improved Flatpak support (with xdg-desktop-portal). I've been using a development build with all of these features on my daily driver laptop for months, and it's shaping up nicely. (And I know that if I don't integrate these new technologies in time for 10.0.0, I won't be able to maintain the same level of functionality and stability over time: the aufs support window is very small, PipeWire is a must for screen recording applications to work, some applications are officially distributed via Flatpak, and so on.)

[bigpup]

For sure, it seems to be the only one using the latest bug fixes and tweaking, that has been done in Woof-CE.

FYI: ScPup, LxPupSc, VoidPup & JammyPup32 all use the latest version of Woof-CE......... but applied to a fairly "traditional" Puppy feature set that has had many years (decades) of testing

"New" features appearing in Woof-CE such as GTK3, PipeWire, OverlayFS, Wayland and Flatpak have not yet received the same level of testing when used in a Puppy context

Well, I was only thinking, with weekly updates, it was getting new stuff in Woof-CE, the fastest of any Puppy version.

In no way, did I intend to indicate your very, very ,very, excellent Puppy releases, were not good!

[dimkr]

Well, I was only thinking, with weekly updates, it was getting new stuff in Woof-CE, the fastest of any Puppy version.

I'll repeat that to make that clear: I forked woof-CE at the moment 9.2.0 was released, and 9.2.1, 9.2.2, etc' are built from that fork, so new changes in woof-CE don't automatically propagate into the next stable Vanilla Dpup release. As the changelog (https://github.com/vanilla-dpup/woof-CE ... dpup-9.2.x) says, I cherry-pick some fixes from latest woof-CE (https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/w ... ts/testing) to this fork.

Wayland and overlay related development happens in upstream woof-CE and doesn't affect Vanilla Dpup 9.2.x at all.

Vanilla Dpup 10.0.x development builds are built from a separate branch, which tracks upstream woof-CE and even adds new features on top, with the intention to gradually merge these new features into woof-CE. When 10.0.0 is out, the plan is to fork woof-CE again and build 10.0.1, 10.0.2, etc' from the same woof-CE tree plus fixes.