I was wondering if the LMDE maintainers would be willing to allow for a new LMDE rolling release repository that would contain the most up-to-date versions of applications with a proven "won't break things" track record?
Let me explain.. I've been using LMDE for quite a while now and like many people I was attracted to it from Ubuntu based on the "rolling release" promise (and other differences like no Unity), only to discover it using "update packs" which can be even more rare than a regular Ubuntu release. So... I started updating certain applications from their source directly. I've found this practice to give me a stable platform which is far more up-to-date than the actual LMDE.
For example: Libre Office supplies debian packages, which have never broken anything for me. So in cases like this, I'd love for those packages to be made available in a true rolling release repository. Any application which is able to supply non-breaking packages for at least 4-6 consecutive times would be included in the rolling release repository. If a package breaks 2 or more times in a row, it's status is "downgraded" and as a consequence removed from the rolling-release repositories. This way, consistently stable applications like Libre Office would get the latest and greatest pushed out to users while frequently broken applications only get upgraded through the update packs. (and are as such tested by the upgrade pack team)
This would have (in my opinion) the following benefits:
- Stability
- A true (at least partially) rolling release
- Less pressure on the update pack team, so they can get more done where it counts
I for one would be happy to help vet / keep up-to-date such a new rolling release repository.
Edit: I added a blueprint in launchpad for this (https://blueprints.launchpad.net/linuxm ... repository)