I’m a Getdeb package builder and on the Ubuntu development discussion list there’s currently a thread about the Getdeb project and why we don’t participate in the backports program.

A little bit of history, I stumbled upon GetDeb when I was looking for Pidgin. Back then it wasn’t available in Feisty and I wanted to use the latest version. When I saw the website I got very excited about the goal to supply the latest software for Ubuntu.

The main reason why I started creating packages for Getdeb was the fact it was so easy to participate. I created an updated package and within two days it was up on the site. I tend to create packages I use myself or I believe it is a great asset to Ubuntu. This is one of the reason you won’t see me creating packages for games at the moment.

I did check to see if I could help out creating packages for as some call it, the inside Ubuntu community. All I could find was becoming a MOTU which is a whole process and I wasn’t, and I’m still not, ready for that. I didn’t know you help out in the backports without becoming a MOTU.

I will check out the backport process and see if I could help out there as well. I won’t abandon the Getdeb project, it’s a great project to participate in.

I upgraded my laptop from Feisty to Gutsy and it didn’t go as smoothly as others have reported.
I’m not really surprised as I don’t run a default Ubuntu desktop, I had installed some applications from source instead of the Ubuntu repository,

I’ve been running it for a week now and it’s pretty stable, good to see the integration with Compiz-fusion. I still am running software from source because I don’t like the fact Ubuntu doesn’t allow updating of certain software by the software itself, like Firefox and friends, Azureus etc.