package updates

[Avi Greenbury]

Udvarias Ur wrote:
> I've been notified a number of times about updates since I installed
> Ubuntu, 24 October 2011. Both for the system and software I have on
> the system.
> 
> My questions is: How long does it take before the 'Ubuntu Update
> Manager' notifies me about the new versions of software?

I think it runs daily.

> I just learned that both Firefox 8.0 and Thunderbird 8.0 were
> released 8 November 2011. From my point of view the Internet browser
> and the E-mail applications are, these days, the 2 most important,
> read widely used, applications on any computer. This is how people
> keep in touch with each other making Ubuntu and all the other Open
> Source software possible.

You wont get major version changes in software during the life of a
release. Bugfixes and security fixes are backported from new versions,
but a software upgrade should never change the behaviour of a program
except to remove undesired effects.

Firefox and Thunderbird 8 are not going to be in the Oneiric
repositories. You will have to either install them by hand, or wait for
Precise.

> In the the Ubuntu Software Centre the entries read: "Canonical
> provides critical updates for ... until April 2013.
> "
> 
> What does 'critical updates' mean?

Security updates, basically.

> Canonical has disabled or removed the self updating mechanisms from
> them so that we MUST rely on Ubuntu developers for updates to these
> applications.

The package manager on Ubuntu very quickly stops working properly if
changes to the applications are made without it being aware. Having
the Firefox installed through apt update itself would confuse Apt
somewhat.

If you want to run versions of software other than those available in a
repository, you should generally remove the repository installed ones,
and then perform the installation of the new ones by hand.

You might find a Mozilla-sponsored PPA for the latest Firefox and
Thunderbird builds, though. This would be a more reliable way to keep
'up to date' with Mozilla.

> On the other hand, I booted into Windows and update both in just a few
> minutes directly from the applications themselves.

If you run Ubuntu in the same way as Windows is managed - by installing
just the OS, and then manually installing and maintaining all the apps
- each update does only take a few minutes, but there's an awful lot
more of them and far more scope for surprise breakage; one big plus side
of the repository system is that *all* of the software in it is
supported, but not just in isolation.

-- 
Avi