On Package Freshness in Linux Distributions
On Package Freshness in Linux Distributions
复制标题
Linux 发行版中的软件包新鲜度
DOI：
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发表时间：
2020
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
T. Mens
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Damien Legay;Alexandre Decan;T. Mens
开源Linux操作系统可以通过各种发行版获得，每个发行版都包含一组可安装的软件包。重要的是要保持这些软件包尽可能新鲜，以受益于新功能，错误修复和安全补丁。然而，并不是所有的发行版都同样重视包装的新鲜度。我们在2020年上半年对170名Linux用户进行了一项调查，以了解他们对所使用的发行版的软件包新鲜度的看法、他们对软件包新鲜度的重视程度及其原因，以及他们更新软件包的方法。本次调查的结果显示，由于上述原因，保持软件包的最新是Linux用户的一个重要关注点，他们尽可能通过其发行版的官方存储库安装和更新软件包，但经常求助于第三方存储库和软件包管理器来获取专有软件和编程语言库。一些发行版在部署软件包更新方面被认为比其他发行版快得多。这些结果有助于评估Linux用户在软件包新鲜度方面的期望和要求，并指导他们选择合适的发行版。
The open-source Linux operating system is available through a wide variety of distributions, each containing a collection of installable software packages. It can be important to keep these packages as fresh as possible to benefit from new features, bug fixes and security patches. However, not all distributions place the same emphasis on package freshness. We conducted a survey in the first half of 2020 with 170 Linux users to gauge their perception of package freshness in the distributions they employ, the value they place on package freshness and the reasons why they do so, and the methods they use to update packages. The results of this survey reveal that, for the aforementioned reasons, keeping packages up to date is an important concern to Linux users and that they install and update packages through their distribution’s official repositories whenever possible, but often resort to third-party repositories and package managers for proprietary software and programming language libraries. Some distributions are perceived to be much quicker in deploying package updates than others. These results are useful to assess the expectations and requirements of Linux users in terms of package freshness and guide them in choosing a fitting distribution.