DistroWatch (Issue 651) is available here:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20160307
According to DistroWatch, 4MLinux 16.0 STABLE belongs to the category of “development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases”.
If 4MLinux 16.0 STABLE is a minor bug-fix (or development) release, then I am Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. I would like to assure everybody that 4MLinux 16.0 has all cool features described in its release announcement.
4MLinux 16.0 STABLE is not an “unannounced” release. It was officially announced here:
http://4mlinux-releases.blogspot.com...-released.html
16.0 STABLE is not a “development” release. 4MLinux 16.0 BETA was released in January:
http://4mlinux-releases.blogspot.com...-released.html
4MLinux 16.0 STABLE is not a “minor bug-fix” release. Just have a look at the specification below.
DETAILED SPECIFICATION:
Development packages. 4MLinux 16.0 ships with a new version of GNU Compiler Collection. Many other packages (including Perl and Python) have also been updated:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/lin...es/16.0/devel/
Drivers. All of them (including proprietary ones) have been updated:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/lin.../16.0/drivers/
Downloadable extensions (optional packages in 4MLinux). Most of them have been updated:
ftp://dl.4mlinux.com
Addons (4MLinux packages available out of the box). Some new applications have been added (File Roller, gFTP, Grsync, rTorrent, uGet), and many “old” packages (such as X.org, Mesa, Gtk2, Gtk3, Qt5, LAMP server, …) have been updated.
Keeping in mind that 4MLinux is an independent distro, I can only repeat: if the specification above describes “minor bug-fix release”, then I am …
No doubt that DistroWatch is a great website, which makes a very good job for BSD/Haiku/Linux/Solaris community. They provide news (and statistics) about various distributions. Additionally, they have supported many FOSS projects by making donations. It's my guess that DistroWatch tries to avoid unnaturally high ranking of these distributions, which make releases “too often”. However, in my opinion, there is a big difference between real releases (based on real development work) and quasi releases, which consist mainly in replacing old desktop theme with a new one. And surely, avoiding unnatural ranking must not lead to depreciating somebody’s hard work.
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