Can't PureOS upgrade options be pushed by e-mails?

[jasonolshefsky]

I find it quite annoying that the only time I figure out when there is a new version of PureOS is when something goes wrong in the Software App / apt update process and someone says, “oh, you need to upgrade…”

I gather that Crimson is the new version of PureOS. The PureOS download page itself still refers to Byzantium (which is version 10.3) (Another pet peeve of mine adopted from Apple: have cutesy names and version numbers that are never presented together … just say “Byzantium 10.3”.) How am I supposed to know if there is a new version out? Is Crimson stable and official?

I really wish that with all the effort put into trying to sell me a friggin’ phone, that a simple e-mail announcing a new OS version would be possible—appreciated, even.

[FranklyFlawless]

@jasonolshefsky

How am I supposed to know if there is a new version out?

Blog posts and respective forum threads in the Announcements category. You can use this RSS feed to stay updated with the former:

https://puri.sm/feed/

@jasonolshefsky

Is Crimson stable and official?

No and yes. See also:

PureOS Crimson Question!

Which in turn, cites this blog article: Then, bringing it up to the present, we have this scenario: Byzantium, which is stable Crimson, which is rolling The key terminology here is “hybrid point release and rolling release model”, not “hybrid stable and unstable”. By the way, here is Crimson: https://downloads.pureos.net/crimson/

[jasonolshefsky]

@FranklyFlawless

Blog posts and respective forum threads in the Announcements category. You can use this RSS feed to stay updated with the former:
https://puri.sm/feed/

I must be dumb; I only see Firmware, General, Hardware, Software, and Services under “All Categories>”. Oh, wait, if I search, I can get “Announcements.” … and that’s just a bloated rehash of all the blog posts (same as the RSS feed) which is 99% marketing.

Any other major system has a website that summarizes releases. I.e. Thunderbird release notes, Firefox release notes… But not PureOS. And I’m on Caliga’s side with:

@Caliga

But to re-iterate: I would not consider a dump of all upstream changes helpful. I would consider it helpful if the release notes would focus on notable changes, e.g. security, changes Purism was working on, or important packages.

I didn’t intend to sign up as a full-time unpaid system administrator…

@FranklyFlawless

Is Crimson stable and official? No and yes. See also:

@jasonolshefsky

Is Crimson stable and official?

No and yes. See also:

@FranklyFlawless

Then, bringing it up to the present, we have this scenario: Byzantium, which is stable Crimson, which is rolling The key terminology here is “hybrid point release and rolling release model”, not “hybrid stable and unstable”. By the way, here is Crimson: https://downloads.pureos.net/crimson/

So rolling releases are inherently unstable, making every user—in the parlance of the 1990s—an alpha tester? Not what I was interested in at all. I assumed that Purism was acting as a kind of vetting service for Linux releases so I wouldn’t have to worry so much that doing an OS update would result in a lost day debugging a bricked computer. Alas, per the “assume” aphorism, I’m the ass…

[FranklyFlawless]

Okay, contact Purism Support and they may be able to help you with your issue.

[irvinewade]

@jasonolshefsky

I gather that Crimson is the new version of PureOS.

crimson wouldn’t have been announced yet because it is not the default or recommended release yet. It is for the early adopters.

If you are on byzantium then stay on it until such time as crimson is the default release.

Having said that, it does depend on the hardware platform. I believe that the Librem 11, because it requires crimson for some hardware support, actually ships with crimson. So that is the exception at the moment.

@jasonolshefsky

that’s just a bloated rehash of all the blog posts (same as the RSS feed) which is 99% marketing

I would recommend the RSS feed and then use an RSS feed reader that can filter for you i.e. filter out the marketing.

Otherwise general comments on what you would and would not like to see more of in the blog posts - and comment about how you would like release naming to be done - and comment about how you would like version announcements to be done - can be directed to feedback@puri.sm

Personally, I say forget about the version number. The releases are in alphabetical order. That’s enough.

I don’t think Purism (yet) offers sufficient granularity for you to be able to control what emails you receive. You either get all Purism emails or you get none. Again though the option may be there for you to filter on the client side.

The way Ubuntu handles version announcements is more straightforward. The automatic update mechanism tells you when a new version is available. No email required. No RSS feed required. (You configure the automatic update mechanism to specify whether you want to be told about: no versions, LTS versions only, or all versions.) Would that work better for you?