What is LinuxMint's policy towards using external repos?

[odinmint]

Hi all,

I come from PCLinuxOS where the policy is "install software only from PCLinuxOS repos" which makes sure that the system is always stable.

What is the accepted practice with Mint? I've seen posts here advising to add this or that repo in order to get extra packages; is it safe to do so? Or, what are "safe" and "unsafe" repos?

In particular, I'm asking about upgrading to OpenOffice to 3.1; should I go ahead and add the OpenOffice Launchpad repos or is 3.1 going to make it, eventually, to the "official" Mint repo when it is judged "safer"?

Thanks for the advice.

[exploder]

Safe updates in LinuxMint are level 1 & 2 updates in mintUpdate. Level 3 updates are assumed safe but use your best judgment. I have the ppa repo enabled and have the newest version of OpenOffice. The upgrade removes the old version of OpenOffice while it installs the new version, so there should be no problem. The splash screen will be restored by mintSystem when you reboot.

[odinmint]

Thanks, exploder.

Just did it, and it worked fine, with splash screen restored after reboot.