Not up-to-date repo
Hi,
Many of trisquel sw is not up-to-date. im using the default repos. Is there any compatible ubuntu/debian repo that i can include to get the updated version of softwares?
Thanks.
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Trisquel is based on Ubuntu. However, since Ubuntu has a rather fast development cycle, Trisquel is always one or two versions behind. Thus, if you try to use newer Ubuntu repos, it might break your system.
If you want to use the newest versions of any software, you might consider compiling it.
Otherwise, don't pursue the newest versions just for the sake of it. Stuff doesn't always just improve with newer versions...
downloading separate sources, compiling & installing would be my last option. I understand the problems faced by trisquel in competing with ubuntu dev cycle. But, since it has strong support by fsf, cant some crucial softwares (like Clam, rkhunter) be kept up-to-date?
Actually Trisquel doesn't receive much support from the FSF. At least in the way I believe you are thinking. For example, Trisquel does not recieve any money from the FSF. The FSF is a advocacy organization but does not really sponsor monetarily projects like Trisquel.
We also don't get developers from the FSF either. In fact we could use more volunteers (even in non-development areas). See this page on how to help if you are interested.
Thats surprising. Amongst the OSes endorsed by fsf, trisquel seemed to take prominance on its websites.
i dont have any proper packaging skills. I would require guidance and my pc is slow at compiling. so, chances are efforts might turn out unproductive in the end.
maybe communicating the requirement of volunteers to fsf guys, might be helpful.
Not really.
There are many repos that are somewhat technically compatible but may contain non-free software. Also, combining repos from many distros means creating a frankendistro and is likely to result in problems.
Having said all that, there are some PPAs that can be used. Finding and testing them is left as an exercise to the reader.
ya, mixing repos cause problems. I thought someone here might know how to do that without any problems.
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The only way to do it without any problems is, unfortunately, to test it and see which combinations work best. I believe to recall installing grip from the Ubuntu repos, together with some libraries which it needed which were only in Ubuntus repos. All went well and I had grip running without problems.
I'm quite sure though there was some non-free software installed that way, or at least some stuff that is patent-encumbered and avoided by the Trisquel team for safety reasons. I don't have grip installed anymore.
I've been using global-menu and icecat PPAs for some time without problems too.
At some point global-menu broke (I believe due to updated gnome-panel) and Abrowser became much more recent, so I needed no icecat and disabled the PPA.
Thanks for sharing your experience regarding this.
Although, compiling sources would be time consuming for me, for now i would opt for it, as i dont want to mess things up.
You should start by searching some PPA made for Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot (Trisquel 5.5 Brigantia reusing the vast majority of the packages in this version of Ubuntu). Installing a PPA is very easy. Beware that there are some PPAs proposing proprietary software!
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Trisquel doesn't change anything crucial so you should be able to use Ubuntu compatible repositories and PPAs safely. Don't use Debian (unless they are compatible with Ubuntu as well) repositories/PPAs as Ubuntu is not compatible with Debian and may break it. This despite Ubuntu is based off Debian. You also need to make sure the repository supports the version of the distribution of Ubuntu that is equivalent to the version of Trisquel you are using. Trisquel 5.5 is based off Ubuntu 11.10. Trisquel 5.0 is based off Ubuntu 11.04 and so on.
The main reason you need to be careful when using Ubuntu compatible repositories/PPAs beyond the version is because few repositories or PPAs are free software compatible. I'm not saying they won't work technically. The problem is they aren't including exclusively free software.