MX Linux Forum

One thing I can say that is amazing is our users! Thanks!

bwhawk wrote: Thu May 13, 2021 5:46 am Well, I think MXPI is amazing. It simplifies installation of packages that would otherwise be tedious or maddening, like Wine, Mullvad VPN, Calibre, Flatpaks, the list can go on and on. Please never doubt that you are appreciated.

Exactly this. I use this first when I install something, it takes care of things, makes life easy.

So yeah.. THANKS!

OK, I'm going to retract my statement that we can't learn anything from his review. The fact that (I believe) he has confused Test Repo for DEbian Testing (otherwise it wouldn't be a "conflicting" repo leading to dependency issues) is something we should address, because he is not the only one.

Check out the first review dated 12 May 2021 in DW's review page for MX: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resou ... &distro=mx

That's the latest person who thinks he's installing packages from DEbian Testing when using MXPI Test Repo. This is a dangerous assumption for uninitiated users to make. Next thing you know, they are accessing Debian Testing repo themselves, thinking that if they just download and install one .deb file from Testing, it'll be fine.

And how many times have you seen forum posts referring to Test Repo as Testing repo? I've seen a fair number of such posts.

It might make the message wordy but perhaps the warning pop-up when you first access Test Repo tab should add the following words:

"MX Test Repo is not Debian Testing Repo. It contains packages built to be compatible with Debian Stable that have not been fully tested. Debian Testing packages should not be used with Debian Stable....[continue with rest of cautionary message]"

That's just my own personal view bearing in mind I've seen this confusion arise for so long.

What if we name the tab "Package testing"?

the word "test" will always indicate potential issues. and the fact that while nothing in test conflicts with stable, there are things in stable that conflict with test, particularly multimedia libraries.

its murky, and when things are murky I like to call them what they are. its called "MX Test Repo" now. At a minimum its accurate.

I think we can keep calling it MX Test Repo, BUT we should try to educate users in that first popup that it is NOT Debian Testing.

Yeah, but reading popups is nerdy...

Adrian wrote: Thu May 13, 2021 9:36 am What if we name the tab "Package testing"?

I don't think that's needed, its says what it is right on the tab "MX Test Repo".

Maybe combine the text below the tab right now onto one line and add another line with a note saying what the tab is for "MX Test Repo ... NOT Debian Testing Repo".
But I honestly don't think it is needed.


I think its just another biased, narrow, and half baked review. He didn't really test or research.

If he did he wouldn't have said many of the things he said, he would have pointed out many of the things folks are pointing out here, and he would have focused on the strengths and actual weaknesses of MXPI.
Instead he just nitpicked, blabbed on his opinions, and said things as facts that aren't even close to the truth.

There are better actual, more thorough, and researched reviews on MXPI on YouTube made by 11yr kids touching Linux for the first time.

MXPI is awesome, not perfect, but its awesome in its own right. But, it's extremely functional and covers many functions well.

What really irked me was the complaints about having the options to even install from all those MX Test Repo, Debian Backports, and the Flatpaks.
Like this is a con in some sort of way, complete rubbish.

The whole "not testing" thing is a joke, he doesn't actually know what we or users do, how could he? He doesn't even know what the MX Test Repo is.

FWIW, we test everything that we do in both the MX Stable and Test Repos. Sometimes I spend more time testing than I do packaging.
- Everything is built off MX Stable, any non-MX stable repo packages are added individually in a local repo at build time.
- I often first test installs in a VM using a local repo or if its a single .deb sometimes just manually installing.
- Then I actually open the application both via terminal and Whisker menu.
- Next (I'll be honest) I usually poke around in applications as much as I can. I'm not going to learn full blown applications just to test them completely. But they are tested a bit.
- Then I send them up to the repos, once I see them show up there, I'll test another install.

The blog post is saddening because I'm hard pressed to find anything actually useful to take away from it to actually improve MXPI.

However, my point is that other people have also confused Test Repo with Debian Testing. It's not just him or that recent DW review post.

If we can stop real users of MX from making that mistake and messing up their system, perhaps we should try.

how about a haiku in a tooltip