outdated nvidia drivers in the repository are a serious problem

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Thu, Jan 05, 2006 at 12:24:25AM +0100, HC Brugmans wrote:
> <snip>
> >
> >My suggestion is that Ubuntu keeps updating the NVIDIA drivers with the
> >latest released version, even in the stable version of Ubuntu.
> >
> The problem with doing this is that once we do it for one 
> package/driver/program, people will use it as an example to demand that 
> another package will be upgraded as well.

That isn't the only problem.  It's also not uncommon for newer versions of
these drivers to break working systems.  For example, during the Breezy
cycle, nVidia chose to drop support for a wide range of cards in a new
release of their driver.

While it can be argued that users who choose to use an alternate driver are
willing to accept a certain amount of instability, it isn't clear how far
this can be extended.

-- 
 - mdz