| Summary: | Update request for Libreoffice 7.0.4.2 (which is EOL) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Product: | Mageia | Reporter: | Jose Manuel López <joselp> |
| Component: | RPM Packages | Assignee: | Thierry Vignaud <thierry.vignaud> |
| Status: | RESOLVED FIXED | QA Contact: | |
| Severity: | normal | ||
| Priority: | Normal | CC: | alejandro.anv, gla, ouaurelien |
| Version: | 8 | ||
| Target Milestone: | --- | ||
| Hardware: | All | ||
| OS: | Linux | ||
| Whiteboard: | |||
| Source RPM: | libreoffice-7.0.4.2-5.mga8.src.rpm | CVE: | |
| Status comment: | |||
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Description
Jose Manuel López
2021-06-15 08:40:05 CEST
Hi, thanks reporting this. I'm unsure if we should update this as long as there is no security issue between the 2 versions. Also, I wonder if the new features are worth to be included. Let's packager decide. Source RPM:
Libreoffice =>
libreoffice-7.0.4.2-5.mga8.src.rpm I think that is important by the compatibility of others office document formats, and others office applications. I have various users that ask me from Mageia Telegram group spanish , why the Mageia version is outdated. Greetings! (In reply to Jose Manuel López from comment #2) > I think that is important by the compatibility of others office document > formats, and others office applications. > Document formats rarely changes, so this is moot... > I have various users that ask me from Mageia Telegram group spanish , why > the Mageia version is outdated. So tell them to stop obsessing about version numbers. In reality they mean nothing... Just because upstream moves version, does not mean it's unsupported from a distro point of view. We can always patch things if needed for security issues... And new versions dont always mean improvement, as they can also introduce breakage in working setups. Do we then close the bug or request since it seems that it will not be updated? But as I have said on other occasions, unfortunately these application delays make users go to other, more up-to-date distros. No matter how much it is explained to them that Mageia takes care of the stability to the detriment of the update. I think Mageia should treat different some types of crytical applications that are frequently adding long expected and important features to new versions. The most important case are browsers like Firefox and Chromium. I've found some web pages that does not work with the Mageia version of Firefox. But even ignoring this special cases, the improves on speed, features and stability on newers versions are a constant in this case. You can live with an older version but for sure you will miss the new features that everyone else have. Sometimes, it's even easier to compile a newer version than applying patches to an older one. I think Mageia should create a list of software that should be kept up to date to the latest stable version. But really there are other cases when a new version is needed. I.e. I reported a bug in Spectacle. This problem is solved in newer versions but it will never be fixed in the current one. So if Mageia does not update to a different version, the problem will still be there until Mageia 9. My solution was just downloading the source code and compiling it myself, and I not only fixed my problem; I also gained a couple of new useful features. But not everyone can do this. CC:
(none) =>
alejandro.anv Good morning, I think we should have LibreOffice updates as new releases come out. Having an outdated version causes many people to look for other distributions that keep the most current applications or the user on their own to remove the Mageia version and install the rpm version they download directly from LibreOffice. I want to have LibreOffice updated from Mageia. CC:
(none) =>
gla (In reply to Jose Manuel López from comment #5) > But as I have said on other occasions, unfortunately these application > delays make users go to other, more up-to-date distros. > That's their freedom of choice. And no matter what we do, there will always be people complaining... (In reply to Alejandro Vargas from comment #6) > I think Mageia should treat different some types of crytical applications > that are frequently adding long expected and important features to new > versions. > > The most important case are browsers like Firefox and Chromium. I've found > some web pages that does not work with the Mageia version of Firefox. But > even ignoring this special cases, the improves on speed, features and > stability on newers versions are a constant in this case. This is a questionable argument at best... "improved speed" ususlly dont show up in other things than specific benchmarks... and sometimes other bits has regressed hard in terms of performance... "new/improbed features" comes with new bugs, new security issues, and many times breaking older features in the process... "more stability" is not guaranteed in newer versions exactly because of the pace of loading the code with "new features" > Sometimes, it's even easier to compile a newer version than applying patches > to an older one. > And that evalution we do look on at every need to update... > > I think Mageia should create a list of software that should be kept up to > date to the latest stable version. > > > But really there are other cases when a new version is needed. I.e. I > reported a bug in Spectacle. This problem is solved in newer versions but it > will never be fixed in the current one. That depends of if the maintainer is interested in backporting a fix or not. Just because "an upstream project" does not fix older branches does not make it unsupported from distro perspective... We dont obsess over every version bump out there since we know better... Bigger version does not always mean better. Many users prefer stability over new features (not to mention some "new versions" tend to drop "old features" thus breaking other peoples workflow) So there is no simple "one size fits all" solution... And if you think some package is not well maintained (or at all), then by all means consider joining the packager team and take up / share the workload... (and no, simply uploading new versions "does not always automagically fix stuff"...) (In reply to Thomas Backlund from comment #9) >That depends of if the maintainer is interested in backporting a fix or not. As you can imagine... porting patches to older versions is a hard job. I can understand when this people answers "this problem was already fixed, use current version and not older ones". What will you answer if I complain about a bug in Mageia 6 or 7? > We dont obsess over every version bump out there since we know better... > Bigger version does not always mean better. > > Many users prefer stability over new features (not to mention some "new > versions" tend to drop "old features" thus breaking other peoples workflow) Well... this is why I say may be it would be needed a list of software that is better to keep up to the latest stable version. I understand in many cases an older version is more stable. But in other cases an older version means "non-fixed" version. I.e. every time I had an issue with btrfs, they answered if I'm using an old kernel I should update before asking for help. And in cases like the web browser, the latest stable version is a "must have" for anyone. The case of Libreoffice is somehow similar. Everybody is complaining all the time about Office compatibility, and the Libreoffice team is adding better compatibility in every new version. So it's reasonable for users to ask for the newer possible version. You can't answer the users: you will not have this better compatibility because the new version could be slower or have new bugs. You can answer this if you are talking about kcalc but this is not an acceptable answer for the case of libreoffice. This is why I think it would be better to have something similar to a "rolling release" for some special applications where new features are more important than stability or where the developers does not backports fixes to older versions. I agree with the comment 10, I think that above all this two applications shold be more update than others that aren't so important. I have suffered during some Firefox ESR versions, issues wiht some websites, that they check Firefox ESR how outdated and don't works wiht the ESR version, and I've had problems of compatibility wiht the Libreoffice versions by be outdated in Mageia from long time ago. For the end-user, this can be a big problem, because they do not understand, as we can, reports, discussions with the Mageia community, or constructive criticism, as this one is intended to be, to improve the distribution. He will simply say that the system works badly or that it is no good, referring to Mageia and not to the application in particular, I have seen this on several occasions both in Mageia and in other systems with other applications. It's something that really annoys me, because in most cases it's the problem of the application and not the whole system, but the user is frustrated and pissed off and blames the whole system, no matter how much you explain otherwise. It is a problem of low "computer literacy" of the end user, that's for sure, but we should take it as a request for improvement in the update of certain critical applications that due to compatibility with third parties or new features required by users should be in their latest versions. Hi, I think that we can close this bug, because the last stable version of Libreoffice is in testing repositories now, and it's coming soon for Mageia 8. If somebody think other thing, can reopen this bug. Greetings and thanks for your attention!! Resolution:
(none) =>
FIXED Feel free to try Libreoffice 7.2.2 from the test repositories and report on the bug:https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=29542 Greetings! |