[SWLUG] difference between .04 and .10 of ubuntu

Sun Apr 18 18:31:56 UTC 2010

I notice a little bit of confusion in what is beta and what is alpha
software.  With Ubuntu and most other software which include testing
you will get Alpha, Beta, Release Candidate (RC) & then the final
release.  The numbering system of the Ubuntu versions do not indicate
this is beta or this is alpha since they are all final releases.  They
are number so that the first number is the year (20)10 and then the
second number is the number 04.  So the version of Ubuntu being
released at the end of this month will be version 10.04 since it will
be released in April (04) in 2010 (10).  Now if you check Lucid's
(10.04's) release schedule at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LucidReleaseSchedule you will see that it is
currently in Beta stage 2 meaning that this is the second beta release
before the Release Candidate on April 22nd.  Alpha testing is the
stage where the software/operating system is predictably most buggy,
with lots of new changes resulting in bugs from these changes.  These
are continuously tested and tried to be fixed over the alpha period.
Then after alpha testing beta testing will then occur, this is the
stage where there are predicted bugs but it is more stable and changes
will only be made that are not too drastic, i.e. fixing a bug or two
and translating software,  adding new versions of software or new
software entirely such as Google Chrome to Ubuntu or another other
software/OS will not occur in beta testing under normal conditions.
Then finally there is the RC (Release Candidate),  this does exactly
what it says on the tin,  the almost final version which will be
shipped providing there are no critical bugs that may affect the
installation or running of the application/OS.  Usually very minor and
very few changes are made from RC to the final release.  The final
release will then be called Ubuntu 10.04.  With 10.04 the entire
testing stages Canonical and the rest of the Ubuntu community will
refer to it as Lucid Lynx or just Lucid as these are the developer
codenames for this Ubuntu release.  The 9.10 version when in the
testing/development stages it was referred to as Karmic Koala or just
Karmic for short.  Note that the starting of development and testing
for the next Ubuntu version (probably 10.10) will take place sometime
in the beginning of May (05) but this does not affect the version
number of the final release.

Hope this explanation helped a little

Cofion,
Chris

On 18 April 2010 11:18, Write Me <stephanos at writeme.com> wrote:
> Dear All
>
> Tony Pursell wrote:
>> Hi Stephen,
>>
>> On 17 Apr 2010 at 16:56, Write Me wrote:
>>> Dear All
>>>
>>> I have recently moved to Kubuntu 9.10 from Kubuntu 9.04.
>>>
>>> Some very simple things do not work as well.  9.10 is using OO 3.1 but
>>> the display in the status bar does not show all the info it should, such
>>> as the page number and total number of pages.
>>>
>>> There are other things as well.  I have never really understood beta
>>> versions either.  At the moment I am thinking of going back to 9.04.
>>>
>>> I thought I would ask if there is an intended difference between these
>>> two version each time they are released.  Perhaps .10 is some kind of
>>> test and things are ironed out by the next .04?  Or is each new version
>>> intended to be an improvement on the last?
>>>
>>> The occurrence of simple things no longer working is too reminiscent of
>>> Windows and I hope it is just my understanding that needs to be improved.
>>>
>>> Any information appreciated
>>
>> Ubuntu (and its variants, such as Kubuntu) has a new release every 6
>> months, which come out in April and October.  Hence, the last two
>> releases, in 2009, were given version numbers 9.04 and 9.10.  9.10 is
>> the latest release, not a beta release.  The next release, 10.04, is due
>> out at the end of this month and only a beta version is available for
>> that yet.
>>
>> Each release includes the latest release of OpenOffice.org.  As far as
>> I know, all versions of OOo have page number and number of pages
>> in the left hand part of the status bar.  Have you got it switched on?
>> Go to View > Status Bar.  Is it ticked?  If not, click on it to get the full
>> status bar displayed.
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>> Tony
>>
>>
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>
> I made sure the status bar was turned on and sorry I did not mention
> that.  Though turned on not all the normal things of the status bar are
> present.
>
> It is the issue mentioned here.
> http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=107945.
> When I try the solution the interface of OO reverts to an earlier
> version.  A solution of sorts.
>
> However, that aside.  Can anyone tell me if each release has a beta
> version first and then when all bugs are sorted it has a 'alpha' or
> final version.  Is my annoyance at things having stopped working after
> an upgrade possibly attributable to this?
>
> Or is 9.04 the beta and .10 the 'alpha' or final version?
>
> Wait to hear
>
> Stephen
>
>
>
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