[ubuntu-in] Is Ubuntu messing up on QA?

[Udhay Shankar N]

A rant originally posted to the linux-delhi (and other) lists by Raju 
Mathur - a Unix guru of nearly 2 decades' standing, and a member of 
the OSI board.

This is only the latest example of a phenomenon I am noticing of 
late. I think Ubuntu is experiencing a backlash that they would do 
well to pay careful attention to - as this is happening among the 
geek / early adopter demographic that is a powerful opinion-shaper.

Udhay

>Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:25:22 +0530
>From: Raj Mathur <raju at linux-delhi.org>
>Subject: [LIG] [LONG] [RANT] Ubuntu and Quality Control
>To: "The Linux-Delhi mailing list" <ilugd at lists.linux-delhi.org>,
>         linux-india-general at lists.sourceforge.net, linuxers at mm.glug-bom.org
>Message-ID: <200803161025.23055.raju at linux-delhi.org>
>Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="us-ascii"
>
>First thing yesterday morning: urgent IM message from Suresh
>Ramasubramanian (hoster of this mailing list):
>
>   Mailman is down, can you help?
>
>OK, so we start investigating his box.  He has upgraded Python2.4 to
>Python2.5, and applied a Mailman security patch package.  However,
>whenever we try to access the page, the server barfs.  On to server
>logs -- syntax error in one of the Mailman support files.
>
>Right, I can understand an upgrade causing logical errors, but a SYNTAX
>ERROR!??!?  Nah, I must be missing something, so I look all over the 2
>upgrades.  Switch back to Python2.4 from Python2.5, no joy.  Recompile
>all the Mailman files from scratch, no joy.  Recompile the Ubuntu
>Mailman package from source and reinstall it, no joy.  Bang head
>against wall, no joy.
>
>Finally, desperate, I start comparing Mailman files on Suresh' server
>against Mailman installed on other servers.  While they are different
>versions of Mailman, I do notice one anomaly: where one file has:
>
>             mlist.subject_prefix = Utils.canonstr(
>                 val, mlist.preferred_language) <- *** Note this line ***
>         elif property == 'info':
>
>Suresh' server has:
>
>             mlist.subject_prefix = Utils.canonstr(
>         elif property == 'info':
>
>Saying, `no, no, it can't be!' I insert the missing line into the file
>on the broken machine, cross fingers, eyes, legs, etc and restart
>Mailman.
>
>It works!
>
>[Shift to today]
>
>Ubuntu issues a security notice that says, in effect, ``We screwed up
>with the previous Mailman patch, so here's the latest and greatest
>version of Mailman, and this one really, Really, REALLY works!  Believe
>us!''.
>
>I don't believe them.  In the past 6 months Ubuntu has issues 80 new
>security advisories.  For those 80 advisories, they have issued no less
>than SEVEN regressions (a regression is a patch to fix a broken patch).
>A near-10% regression rate sends only one message to me -- we can't be
>bothered with doing any quality control before we release packages.
>
>Before Ubuntu came onto the scene, I didn't even /know/ what a
>regression was.   Today it's a common word in my lexicon, because of
>Ubuntu's pathetic testing and quality control process (or lack of
>process, more likely).  An operating system vendor who issues a package
>with a syntax error (so that the package doesn't even start up, leave
>alone do something wrong), is a pure crap snake oil vendor in my book.
>
>So, the question: will I trust Ubuntu on an Internet-connected system?
>Nah.
>
>Will I trust Ubuntu on a server?  Er, please excuse me while I finishing
>laughing hysterically!
>
>Use Debian or CentOS or any of those reasonably tested other
>distributions for your boxes, and when someone asks you to use Ubuntu,
>in the immortal words of Fancy Raygun, ``Just Say No!''.
>
>Regards,
>
>-- Raju
>--
>Raj Mathur                raju at kandalaya.org      http://kandalaya.org/
>  Freedom in Technology & Software || February 2008 || http://freed.in/
>        GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5  0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F
>PsyTrance & Chill: http://schizoid.in/   ||   It is the mind that moves


-- 
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))