absence of updates (not a support request)

[DShelbyD]

After the release of Mageia 9 there was a relatively long interval before updates appeared. I went so far as to refresh my sources to be sure I was not on Cauldron. Nope, I was on Mageia 9 sources. The wait was long and a little anxious. Finally, there were updates, and all not only seemed well but also was well as far as I could tell.

Now a review of Mageia 9 has appeared in Distrowatch, and one of the items Jesse, who apparently installed just after release for the purpose of his review, emphasized was that the absence of updates is highly unusual and a potential liability.

I'm asking, not implicitly criticizing: Why was there such a long period before updates appeared after the release? I think it would be a good idea to answer this question in the Distrowatch forum as well.

[doktor5000]

Hi there, you may remember that Mageia is a community-driven distribution. So instead of asking: why did it take so long before updates appeared after the release of a new major version,
maybe ask yourself instead what you did you to contribute to that? Maybe help the QA team out here and there, or the triage team. Or maybe help with some packages, or documentation, or ...
All teams are happy to welcome volunteers: https://www.mageia.org/contribute/

After a new release has been done, there is usually always quite a lot of work around it. E.g. updating the API, getting cauldron rolling again,
making sure that tools around the distro are updated to the new release, some stuff for sysadmins etc.
And a lot of contributors will also use that time to take a break after the release stress.

[doktor5000]

As an example, here's a list of the update candidates which are also for Mageia 9: https://madb.mageia.org/tools/updates
Feel free to help test and validate them to get the updates pushed out for those.

[DShelbyD]

Hi there, you may remember that Mageia is a community-driven distribution. So instead of asking: why did it take so long before updates appeared after the release of a new major version,
maybe ask yourself instead what you did you to contribute to that?

Clearly you missed a major point in my note. I think this question deserves a more thoughtful answer that might be given in answer to the review on Distrowatch. It's THAT community that needs to understand the reason for the lapse in updates as described by Jesse Smith in his review:

A bigger issue though was my copies of Mageia never received software updates. At first I thought the distribution must have fetched updates during the install process (despite my selection to skip this step). But then a few days went by and a few more. I ended up running Mageia longer than usual, around two weeks, and despite all of the security updates other projects pushed out during that time, I received nothing from Mageia - either through the graphical update manager or via the DNF command line package manager. I confirmed I had the Update repositories enabled, but no updates came through. This is a significant security concern as, if there are updates available and something is going wrong in the background of my system, the package manager is failing silently. But if there aren't updates in the repositories then the project is failing to protect its users. In either case, it gives me strong reservations about running Mageia for any length of time.

Please don't interpret any of this as MY antagonism toward Mageia. It's grandfather Mandrake was the first Linux distro I tried ... in 1998 or so. I continued on that distribution and its offspring Mandriva and Mageia 1, but the development cycle became too lengthy for my taste, some things that had been problems for years were not getting fixed, some software languished until the next distribution upgrade, and so, while I did contribute a tiny amount toward testing, I eventually decided to move on. When the Mageia 9 Beta appeared, I took a trip down memory lane and made a network installation. I was impressed with what had become of the distribution, and I maintain an SSD with the release on it, using it at the moment. One particular problem -- Configure NFS shares-Access NFS shared drives and directories in Control Center -- is fixed (maybe for a long time), and it's a great tool, even though I find the CLI faster and easier. Printing remains a pain because the basic printing software is not installed until one sets about installing a printer. Even then, it's a pain. Many years ago I complained in the forum and was told printing is not so important anymore. Yes, most things can be done online, but for me at least, printing is essential. It's OK -- I know what to do. But a new user?

Bottom line: I have respect for Mageia that comes from my early Linux experience. I'm encouraged by its recent development. My inclination is to defend it.