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Fedora Core 3 Test 1 Released
Gudlyf writes "Notice just went out to the Fedora Announce List about the availability of Fedora Core 3 Test 1. Things expected in FC3 include Linux kernel 2.6.7, GCC 3.4, GNOME 2.8, KDE 3.3, and Evolution 2.0. As always, you can get Fedora Core test releases at redhat.com, specifically here and (for a torrent) here."
No disrespect intended against the Fedora team, but I find that this release schedule is not so hot. There have been A LOT of issues with my installation of FC2 on a standard dell box. Maybe this was just a fluke, but I can't understand the whole idea of a point release every few months. Nonetheless, where's the torrent?
It's test1.
If you're afraid of it breaking anything at all, you probably don't want to use it.
If you on the other hand want to help the developers find the bugs at an early stage so they can squeeze the bugs, download it immediately, start testing and report bugs.
They're moving so fast, that I think they pile on more bugs than the rate they fix them at. Its generally pretty good, but still, a slightly slower schedule wouldn't impare them much. There really hasn't been that much new software since FC2 was released. Why not patch FC2, and wait for more stable builds of the next Gnome, like 2.8.2 or something, and KDE 3.3.1. It doesn't seems like Gnome 2.8 is that far along, and will be shipping as RC instead of finalized and tested. And if they do finalize 2.8, will is just be a bug-fix with like 1 new feature?
I would have expected to see a ChangeLog in the article posted, as well as saying if the big bugs in FC2 have been fixed! (Windows mbr breakage and Orinoco wireless PCMCIA support breakage).
Sometimes, just sometimes, I get the feeling that Linux distributions are being released too fast for ordinary users to keep up. I mean, FC2 was released about a month back (roughly), and here we are, talking about about FC3 Test 1 already! I guess FC3's slated to be released sometime in October.
The problem with this is that often, packages (rpms) for older distros are discontinued, thus forcing users to upgrade. I know stuff like Yum solves a lot of these issues, but the fundamental problem still remains.
For instance, I was running FC1 with KDE 3.2 Beta 2, which released sometime in December 2003, and wanted to upgrade to KDE 3.2.3 - but I couldn't find any rpms for FC1 at all, only FC2. Since upgrading was on the card anyways, I did download and install FC2, and all's well that ends well, but it did leave me thinking about whether Open Source software products are being released a tad too fast.
I wrote an essay about technology overload [rahulgaitonde.org] on my website. This news post on /. made me instantly think back to that essay.
I can't believe that you got moderated "Informative" for such rant.
First of all, it's not about "every X weeks". FC1 was released 5 November 2003, FC2 was released 18 May 2004. FC3 is due 18 October 2004.
Secondly, nobody forces you to upgrade. These people are doing their best to improve free (as in libre) software, while you scoff at them. Give me a break.
/feeding the troll, but this same kind of thought is appearing too regularly when discussing Fedora
/feed
Dude, chill.
As has been mentioned many, many times, and is explicitly stated on fedora's homepage, fedora is not in any way an enterprise-ready distribution. It's not meant to be. It's meant to be a testing ground for RedHat Enterprise Linux.
This comes with all appropriate caveats. No one is forcing you to continually install the most bleeding edge software, and if you are doing so in anything other than a troubleshooting/hobbiest/dick-in-the-wind environment, you are asking for a lot of trouble.
Don't blame Red Hat for your obsession with having the absolute latest software installed all the time.
B.
"We must still have chaos within in order to be able to give birth to a dancing star." --Friedrich Nietzsche
While i totally agree that you are getting much more then just an OS and windowing system, it doesnt take 4 cds to put out an OS+desktop+sql+office suite+devlopment ide.. etc
If you doubt this, look at mepis, or FBSD....
While some choice is good, Fedora is piling on TOO many duplicated items.. Unfortunately this is a common problem with linux distros in general.. Just because its free and you can, doesnt mean you should... Bulk doesnt always mean better..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Why do you think RedHat switched to the Fedora model? Fedora is not meant to be a stable, production distribution. Even the non-test releases are still test releases. That's the whole point. They have "bleeding-edge", Fedora, and "enterprise stable", RHEL. They decided that maintaining a middle category that wasn't providing them with funds was a bad idea. With Fedora, they give a free bleeding-edge OS and get free testing. With RHEL, they have you pay for a solid OS and you get technical support.
It's actually a pretty good model, but not one my company can afford, so we are in the process of switching to Mandrake.
Engineering and the Ultimate
Strange reasoning.
It's easier to install mySQL 4 on Fedora than reinstall OS.
Slow DOWN guys!
You just released FC2 a few months ago. To be honest, it was lackluster. Bugs and problems are rampant. Really guys, fix up FC2, release FC2.1,2.2,etc first. Then move on to FC3. You guys cannot stay bleeding edge, and noone is expecting you to. That kind of thing is better left to the likes of Gentoo. You just worry about staying a version or two behind bleeding edge, and release a really solid OS that people can move into from Windows and have realatively few problems. Remember, the less problematic a first timer's (n00b, whatever) experience is with Linux, the more likely they will be to sticking around and finding out what this "open source" thing is really all about.