Is Mint's Package Management Method Stable?

[avian00]

I'd love it if somebody could please explain to me if Mint's method of package management is stable and why it would be better than the vanilla Ubuntu (Debian) way? I mean, I see the appeal of Mint's method. The "Software Portal" is quite slick. And it makes finding & installing software easy. But the problem I see is that Mint seems to want to constantly modify my sources.list file. This reminds me of the days of Automatix, which did pretty much the same thing. The problem was that once it was done, it would change your sources back, which could possibly lead to version conflicts and general stability issues. Am I missing something? Does Linux Mint not suffer from these same types of problems?

[Husse]

With the latest mintInstall repos are no longer changed
You don't say which Mint you use and I have not checked but there should be a version for Daryna
Open mintUpdate and refresh and you should get a new mintInstall in Daryna - it's the default in Elyssa

[avian00]

With the latest mintInstall repos are no longer changed
You don't say which Mint you use and I have not checked but there should be a version for Daryna
Open mintUpdate and refresh and you should get a new mintInstall in Daryna - it's the default in Elyssa

Sorry. Forgot to say I'm using Elyssa. Why is there an option for Default vs. Local repositories when I install an app using a .mint file? Also, am I correct in assuming it is potentially dangerous to update the system using methods like 'apt-get dist-upgrade' or Synaptic?

[Husse]

Default vs. Local

This is causing misunderstandings - but mintInstall no longer changes your sources.list.
If my memory serves me right default is the applications default and local is your sources.list - which of course is your default
The wording is to be changed later on no later than with Felicia

Also, am I correct in assuming it is potentially dangerous to update the system using methods like 'apt-get dist-upgrade' or Synaptic?

You are very correct - as we use the Ubuntu repos this may cause problems
Note - as long as you only use the Ubuntu repos of the same generation Mint and Ubuntu it's OK (like Elyssa and Hardy)
But if you add Hardy repos to Daryna and dist-upgrade you get a mix of Mint and Ubuntu with somewhat uncertain outcome....

[avian00]

Also, am I correct in assuming it is potentially dangerous to update the system using methods like 'apt-get dist-upgrade' or Synaptic?

You are very correct - as we use the Ubuntu repos this may cause problems
Note - as long as you only use the Ubuntu repos of the same generation Mint and Ubuntu it's OK (like Elyssa and Hardy)
But if you add Hardy repos to Daryna and dist-upgrade you get a mix of Mint and Ubuntu with somewhat uncertain outcome....

Thanks for your very informative answers. Another question...

Given the mix of package managers (apt-get, synaptic, mintUpdate, mintInstall) that exist on the same system, do you know if there are any plans to eliminate the tools that are not aware of the "Mint Logic," as it were, which is used by the Mint tools to install and update only those packages which are known to be stable? It still seems like I could accidentally harm my system if I used a tool like Synaptic or apt-get to install a package. Or am I just being overly-paranoid?

[Husse]

In this case I think you are "overly paranoid"
As long as you have the correct Ubuntu repositories the danger is minimal (but not totally absent)
And we can't get rid of Synaptic and apt - these are basic in Linux
What we can do, and will happen if Mint develops well is to maintain our own repositories for "everything"