Christofoo Review

There is one issue with Linux which I consider a serious technical downside. Linux doesn't have a nice mechanism for dealing with multiple versions of dynamic libraries.

Linux distributions deal with this problem by maintaining repositories of virtually all the open-source applications. Upstream maintainers submit their programs directly into the distribution repositories, and it goes out directly to the users (i.e. the next time the users update). Debian Unstable is the #1 example of this type of distribution.

The problem with running distributions is that the upstream maintainers often miss bugs when they release into the distribution, and this results in a system that is changing all the time and it will sometimes picks up new bugs.

To combat bugs, many distributions do a "feature freeze," which means that major feature improvements are not allowed, and only bug fixes can be submitted can be submitted. For example, Debian Stable is created by freezing Debian Testing, where it stays frozen until it is deemed "ready," and then it is released to a new Debian Stable version. (The current Stable version is 5.0 named "Lenny".) By the way, freezes usually last about 6 months in Debian.

Ubuntu, for comparison, freezes and releases at the same time. The Ubuntu concept is to release "cutting edge" (also known as "bleeding edge") software and hopefully improve it after it's released.

Debian Testing is another type of distribution; it sits downstream from Debian Unstable and permits updates from Unstable after a short trial period, so it is basically a "running" distribution, and yet it's slightly tested.