I got caught (Lilypond in Beta 2)

I have just installed Mandriva Spring Beta 2, and it is generally quite
usable. I didn't get the problems that Ar had with the 64-bit version, but
I did strike one problem that is important to me.

The version of Lilypond supplied is the development version 2.11.40 It has
a known bug in convert-ly, and a new development version 41 has been
released. Unfortunately I am producing sheet music for myself and another
player, so I am installing the stable release.

In earlier times, before Fedora and Mandriva, an introductory book suggested
that this was the difference between Red Hat and Mandrake, that Red Hat
used only the tried and true libraries and packages, while Mandrake tended
to approach closer to the "bleeding edge". A bit like Firefox insisting
that unless a version had the latest and greatest features, it could not be
called Firefox, and Debian wanting only what was known to work, so they
called their rolled-back version Iceweasel.

This is only a passing problem, and it will be fixed soon, so I won't be
dumping Mandriva. But it does seem that the original comparison had some
truth in it.

Doug.

Doug Laidlaw wrote:[color=blue]
> In earlier times, before Fedora and Mandriva, an introductory book suggested
> that this was the difference between Red Hat and Mandrake, that Red Hat
> used only the tried and true libraries and packages, while Mandrake tended
> to approach closer to the "bleeding edge".[/color]

My take, from watching interplay in the industry
but with no "insider knowledge whatsoever" is that
Red Hat decided that for financial viability, it
had to focus on commercial sales of its services.

Commercial operators did not like beta-test
software being installed on production-status
machines. Red hat perforce had to use only
"the tried and true."

This hampered efforts to stay abreast of changes,
and Fedora was the eventual approach to take care
of that aspect.

Mandrake separated from Red Hat largely because
that bunch of people felt it important to
emphasize the desktop for home users and others
who were using Micro$loth.

This bifurcated things in more than one way.
Red Hat's competition was UNIX, as Micro$loth
servers back then were a small fraction of the
market. Mandrake's competition was Micro$loth,
and those customers would buy flaky buggy crap
to get the "latest and greatest." Anyone
intending to supply them would have to bear
that in mind.

Choices in how close to stay to the bleeding
edge clearly reflected the above, and still
do.

Cheers!

jim b.

--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.