Hi,

I must say I hope no one takes this the wrong way or flames me because of it
- I really appreciate what Debian has done, and I think you have the most
stable, logically laid out, and free (as in freedom) Linux distribution out
there.

That said, there is a significant issue that I see with Debian and most
distributions in general that I wanted to bring up.  The issue is that once
a stable release is declared stable, that's it - there are no updates except
for security holes.  This is good, except when you need a feature included
in a newer version of software included in Debian (for example, if a newer
kernel has a non-security bugfix in it that you need). Yes, you can compile
from source (or, in some cases, use unofficial packages) but that is far
from ideal.
What I am wondering is - has there been any effort and/or interest in
working on this area?  I know about debian-volitaile, but that seems
oriented towards a very specific set of packages (like antivirus programs),
and not, for example, bugfixes.  Furthermore, has there been any interest in
working on such a project? If there is some interest, I would be interested
in helping with the effort (though IANADD).   I do vaguely remember this
being mentioned at some time somewhere by a Debian developer at some point
in time, so I figured I'd bring it up.

In my mind, many of the complaints that "Debian doesn't release often
enough" could be mitigated this way, and it would be nice to see at some
point.

Once again, thanks for making Debian what it is - I'm amazed by the 21,000+
packages, the beauty of apt, and the fact that it's a completely volunteer
effort.  Keep it up.

Tim

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