unity-design team mailing list archive

[Jonathan Marsden <jmarsden@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

mac_v wrote:

> I rebooted for the new kernel update in jaunty....
> 
> And I get "Error 13: Invalid or Unsupported Executable Format ..."
> 
> since i know that the kernel error caused this i can figure out ways to
> sort it out...
> 
> But if it was automated then it would be total surprise to the user!

Do you feel it is entirely reasonable and appropriate to be asking the
Ubuntu end user to look over a list of updates and assess their risk,
every few days (whenever updates are released, basically)?  Are we going
to provide training for end users on how they can best perform such risk
assessments? ;)

While *you* have the ability to "figure out ways to sort it out", and
were helped in this by having seen the list of updates... would your
proverbial grandmother have been similarly helped by such a list?

This thread was prompted by a request to think *outside* our personal
stories about "what most people would find helpful", yet this comment
seemingly indicates a focus on your own capabilities and needs rather
than on those of an average or novice Ubuntu user.

I'd think that most kernel updates would generally have a lower
'Auto-Update-Suitability' rating than updates for applications, unless
of course the kernel update fixes a security issue affecting many or
most installations.

Obviously, if there is no way to get an acceptably low level of risk for
 updates, then automating them is not (yet) practical.  However, IMO if
updates are truly that risky, that is in itself a significant problem
which needs to be addressed (if it exists, then that is a significant
Ubuntu usability problem)!  Anecdotes are usually a poor data source.
Is anyone keeping stats on what percentage of Ubuntu updates cause new
issues?  Are those statistics public?  Are similar statistics for
Windows also available for comparison?

Jonathan