Software updates intervals in Ubuntu

[Ioannis Vranos]

Andy wrote:
> On 25/03/2008, Ioannis Vranos <ivranos at freemail.gr> wrote:
>> Hi, is the software provided by Ubuntu (in my case Ubuntu 7.10 x86)
>>  updated on some specific time intervals
> 
> A new version of the OS (including packaged software) is normally
> updated every 6 months. To get more frequent updates you can use the
> "backports" repository.
> 
> Security updates are released as and when they are required.


Why the backports repository is called "backports"?


As an example, I had installed Audacity 1.3.3-beta with Synaptic, and
when I enabled updates from the "backports" repository I got the latest
1.3.4-beta.