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I've read in at least three places that the "backports" repository is more tested (and hence stable) than the "proposed" repository. However, the official Ubuntu webpages state:

"Unsupported Updates (raring-backports)"... Packages may contain new features, may introduce new interfaces, and have not been sufficiently tested to be included in the 'proposed' repository.

This implies to me that packages firstly land in the "backports" repository. If they are then sufficiently tested, then they will move to the "proposed" repository. Hence, "proposed" would appear to be more tested than "backports". Is this true, am I reading the official website wrong, or is this misinformation?

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Sparhawk
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1 Answers1

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As was nicely explained in the answer there

both repositories have a different purpose. So in terms of stability we would compare apples with pears.

Shortly:

  • Packages eligible for an upgrade will have to go to proposed for testing. Only if they don't fail they will eventually move to the major repositories where updates will be presented to all users.

  • Stable packages from later releases will sometimes be made available to a previous release in backports. They likely are not thoroughly tested with the older release. These packages will often not be made available in the major repositories but if they do they will have to survive testing in proposed first.

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Takkat
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