Frequently Asked Questions

Things upstreams ask us[1]:

• My software is in an old Ubuntu release, why don't you guys update it? It's old and I'm getting bug reports, but you won't update it! Argh!

  Ubuntu has a strict Stable Release Update Policy. As a general rule, don't expect new upstream versions of software to be pushed as an update, as we take care not to introduce regressions in a stable release. Consider asking for a backport of your package or you might want to run a Personal Package Archive for newer releases.

• What's the best way of telling an Ubuntu maintainer to cherry pick a git/hg commit for something that needs to be fixed in a stable package?
• You patched something I don't like and it's causing me grief in my bug tracker, whom can I talk to resolve this?
• I accidentally found my project in Launchpad and stumbled on patches and bug reports I didn't know about, why didn't anyone tell upstream?
• I want to get my software in Debian too, do you guys do that?
• MOTUs aren't reviewing my packages fast enough, I am trying to get into Ubuntu, what can I do?
• I don't use Launchpad translations, why do you want to add some dependency to the Launchpad lib? Why is my application translatable in Launchpad?
  • We provide translation updates post-release through Launchpad and language packs. This allows easily completing or fixing translations throughout the distro's life cycle. Although this does not apply to all Ubuntu translation teams, many Ubuntu translators are also translators in the upstream projects or work closely with the upstream teams already. In addition to that, if provide changes requiring additional or modified strings, those translations will only be doable in Launchpad, not upstream.
• ...

[1] Ok things they ask me, but I figure it's a good place to start.