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If it's not passing the test suite, then why is it even considered for inclusion in a distribution like Ubuntu?

Ubuntu is likely used by 10s of millions of servers and desktops. I'm not sure why this kind of breakage is considered acceptable. Very confusing.





It's a part of Ubuntu 25.10 to get it ready for prime time for Ubuntu 26.04.

Users who need stability should use the LTS releases. The interim releases have always been more experimental, and have always been where Canonical introduces the big changes to ensure everything's mature by the time the LTS comes around.


The problem is that this isn't Canonical's own stance. From https://ubuntu.com/about/release-cycle

> Every six months between LTS versions, Canonical publishes an interim release of Ubuntu, with 25.10 being the latest example. These are production-quality releases and are supported for 9 months, with sufficient time provided for users to update, but these releases do not receive the long-term commitment of LTS releases.


Running production on non-LTS Ubuntu would be insane (unless it was a very short-term deployment on a more modern system).

Maybe the thought is that there will be more pressure now on getting all the tests to pass given the larger install base? It isn't a great way to push out software, but it's certainly a way to provide motivation. I'm personally more interested in whether the ultimate decision will be to leave these as the default coreutils implementation in the next Ubuntu LTS release version (26.04) or if they will switch back (and for what reason).

they have a tendency to try novel/different things, like upstart (init system), mir (desktop compositor (?))

and this is probably a net positive, there's now an early adopter for the project, the testsuite gets improved, and the next Ubuntu LTS will ship more modern tools


100% agree. Why would they adopt it if it doesn't pass the upstream test suite. I assumed that would be required before even considering it!

I was expecting that they would be concerned about bugs in the untested parts!


The test in question was added 5 hours ago..



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