More updated package systems that are are independent of ubuntu versions

[Avi Greenbury]

Peng Yu wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> macports on mac seem to be fairly updated, and the latest version
> available does not depend on which version of the OS is. But many
> packages on ubuntu are outdated. Even the lastest release of ubuntu
> may not have the most updated packages, and many updated packages
> available in a later version ubuntu is not available to an older
> version ubuntu. I'm wondering if there is something similar to
> macports on ubuntu that can give me consistent updated packages across
> different version of ubuntu OS. Thanks!

Not really. The common way of doing that is to use a PPA for any
software you wish to run a particularly newer version of. This does
depend on someone having set up a PPA for your particular app, though.

There's a subtle but important difference here between the way OSX and
Ubuntu work; there is a well-defined Operating System in OSX and any
apps running on it do so outside of it, and interace with a pretty
solid 'edge' of the OS. On Ubuntu, the full contents of the
repositories are part of the operating system, so updating individual
packages on their own is modifying the OS slightly, and perhaps making
it no longer live up to the expectations of some other component.

-- 
Avi