Developers of the Linux Mint distribution plan to revise the update installation manager in the next release to enforce keeping the distribution up to date. A study found that only about 30% of users install updates in a timely manner, within a week of their release.
Linux Mint does not collect telemetry, so an indirect method based on the analysis of Firefox versions in use was utilized to assess the relevance of the distribution components. Linux Mint developers collaborated with Yahoo to analyze which version of the browser is being used by Linux Mint users. After the release of the Firefox 85.0 update package, the trend of Linux Mint users transitioning to the new Firefox version was calculated based on the User Agent header value sent to Yahoo services. The results were disappointing, showing that only 30% of users upgraded to the new version within a week, while the remaining continued to browse the web using outdated releases.
Moreover, it turned out that some users do not install updates at all and continue using Firefox 77, which was offered in the Linux Mint 20 release. It was also found that 5% of users (according to another statistic, 30%) continue using the Linux Mint 17.x branch, whose support was discontinued in April 2019, meaning that updates on these systems have not been installed for two years. The 5% figure was obtained based on the evaluation of requests from the browser's start page, while the 30% figure was based on requests from the APT package manager to the repositories.
From comments by users who do not update their systems, it is clear that the main reasons for using older versions are lack of awareness of available updates, installation on outdated hardware that lacks resources for running new versions of the distribution, reluctance to change a familiar environment, emergence of regressions in new branches, such as issues with video drivers, and the cessation of support for 32-bit systems.
The developers of Linux Mint have considered two main paths for more active promotion of updates: enhancing user notifications about available updates and enabling automatic installation of updates by default, with an easy option to revert to manual mode for those who prefer to control their system themselves.
In the next release, Linux Mint plans to add additional metrics to the update manager, allowing users to assess the relevance of packages in the system, such as the number of days since the last updates were applied. If there are no updates for a long time, the Update Manager will begin displaying reminders about the need to apply accumulated updates or switch to a new branch of the distribution. These warnings can be disabled in the settings. Linux Mint continues to adhere to the principle that strict enforcement is unacceptable, as the user owns the computer and is free to do whatever they want with it. Transitioning to automatic update installation is not currently planned.
Source: opennet.ru
