Ubuntu: More bugs than ever?
If you’re a frequent Ubuntu user chances are you’ve heard of people suggesting that Ubuntu has gotten decidedly buggy and broken, with even The Register commenting on the lack of polish in Ubuntu 9.10. But when it comes to bugs – how does the latest version of Ubuntu compare to previous editions of the distribution? Using statistics provided by Launchpad, lets find out exactly how buggy Ubuntu has really become.
One of the first things people look at in regards to bugs are how many open bugs reside in each version of Ubuntu.
Interestingly enough, the amount of open bugs has stayed relatively steady since Ubuntu 8.10, with Intrepid (8.10) containing 290 bugs compared to 272 in Karmic (9.10). In contrast to this, the last Long Term Support edition of Ubuntu (Hardy – 8.04) contained the most open bugs with a whopping 466 bugs remaining open to this day.
Consequently, Ubuntu 9.10 faired decidedly worse when it came to the number of Critical Bugs, with a total of 3 critical bugs in comparison to 0 in Hardy (8.04).
Despite what would appear to be a worsening condition in terms of critical bugs, it is evident that the number of new bug reports has dropped substantially in previous releases.
In Hardy (8.04), a phenomenal 172 new bugs were reported. Since then, this figure has been steadily decreasing with 101 new bugs reported for Intrepid (8.10), 63 for Jaunty (9.04) and then on to 55 in Karmic (9.10).
So there you have it – despite what might be said, statistically, Ubuntu is not getting more buggy and is in fact improving when it comes to total open bugs and new bugs. It should be noted however that these reports don’t necessarily demonstrate precisely how many bugs exist in Ubuntu, and are influenced by many factors including how well each version was tested prior to the time of its release.
Source: Launchpad (Data correct as of 22nd January, 2010).
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January 28th, 2010 at 11:08 am
What we have here is a typical case where statistics is one side of the story and interpretation is a totally different one.
Frankly there is weak correlation between number of reports in Launchpad and quality of Ubuntu Linux. You can suggest so many things from the stats:
1. Nowdays more Ubuntu users tend to visit launchpad.net and report bugs.
2. The number of Ubuntu users increased so much so that there is a similar increase in reports on Launchpad. Here you would need to correlate the increase of users to the increase of reports.
You mention something of the sort in the last paragraph, however you need to expand on it.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:30 am
The total bugs may go down. But some critical bugs (such as the fact that my huwai 3G modes does not work – my online connection to the internet) should be seen as SHOW STOPPER. I mean the equation is so easy: NO WORKING = NO INTERNET = NO UBUNTU. And so far every one is just ignoring this “critical” bug. So i’m shopping for an alternative Linux distro. Any ideas?
January 29th, 2010 at 5:49 am
I think you must have bad hardware. You should check if this exists in Windows 7 ultimate ultimate cost more then your whole computer is worth so it’s fitting you check your hardware to see if it is compatable with ubuntu I am sure it is so go crazy now or spend a small fortune to see if it is compatable with Windows 7. If it is your in luck but your broke. .:)
January 29th, 2010 at 5:51 am
I love & still use Kubuntu 8.04, but I’m leaving the ‘buntu family for Debian. It’s not as flashy, but it’s more stable, more powerful, and more flexible. Let someone else ride the bleeding edge.
January 29th, 2010 at 5:58 am
I agree with Albert you must have hardware problems but first check to see if your hardware is supported by Ubuntu I use Win 7 Ultimate and I am broke too.
January 29th, 2010 at 7:39 am
We can count how many bugs are in ubuntu.
But have you ever consider to help them to fix their bugs. I hope your article give inspirations to the readers that free open source softwares not only need an ordinary user who uses their projects everyday. They also need users who can contribute to them, reporting bugs for example. But the highly appreciated users are those who helped them fixing their bugs.
Count the bugs… and consider how can you help them.
Have a nice day.
January 29th, 2010 at 8:31 am
OK, first I definitely thank you for the effort! The results are indeed interesting. I take it, however, that you made a snapshot of data on this 22nd January, when Karmic has been out for some 3 months or so, yet the LTS, for example, has been out for nearly 2 years at that point (so it might have had more time to receive fixes, or – on the other hand – to receive reports of new bugs). I am afraid we might just be comparing incomparable numbers here.
January 29th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Ubuntu is so buggy on AMD64 that i stopped using it. Package managers crashing left and right being a case in point. I am now on SuSe. One of the few distributions that actually gets the whole multi-media thing mostly right. There are fewer packages than in ubuntu or debian but what I am missing I can compile myself. Getting multi-media things right is generally the hardest part so it is great that my distribution is doing this for me, the rest I can do myself.
January 29th, 2010 at 10:08 am
You can quickly fix your Huawei modem on Ubuntu by using usb-modeswitch.
I fixed my E1750 like this:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8486756#post8486756
January 29th, 2010 at 10:25 am
I was a happy Ubuntu user from Edgy until the train wreck that is Karmic, but no more. One of the reasons I gave up in disgust was the eagerness with which the Ubuntu developers stamp ‘upstream bug’ on an issue and close it without further ado. Are bugs closed as upstream included in your stats? I feel that fixing bugs, upstream or not, should take a priority, but the Ubuntu devs don’t seem to agree. One of many reasons I shifted to Arch Linux.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
@Dean Clemmons: Hi Dean, anything filed under each release version (‘karmic’, for instance) were included in the statistics. Meaning that bugs affecting Firefox, or GTK packages were included in the statistics under their relevant releases.
I completely agree with you though; solving bugs should be an utmost priority for Canonical and the Ubuntu developers – especially in the upcoming LTS release of Lucid.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
I am currently running Ubuntu Karmic Netbook Remix on an Asus EEE PC 701 4G and, aside from 3 well-known bugs it is running very smoothly. All hardwre is suppoted including wireless, webcam and sound.
The 2 well-known bugs are: 1. Karmic complains about your battery being old or broken with 1.9% capacity. However, this same bug showed up in OpenSuse 11.2 Gnome version as well. This bug appears in various forms.
2. With SSD drives the disk monitoring app complains that your hard drive is failing after waking from suspend.
3. During installation the partitioning tool can freeze before you can make your selections, but this has several workarounds.
Annoying? Yes. Show stoppers, I don’t think so. However, I do think Ubuntu hurts its own reputation by trying to force out a new version every 6 months. I think with the pressure this must put on the developers that things are rushed out without sufficient testing. I would rather see a new release every 12 months with more testing and bug squashing before release. These bugs do not frighten an experienced Linux user but may scare away a new user trying to migrate from Windows.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
This doesnt really make alot of sense to me. I guess my PC Hardware is perfectly 100% Linux Compatible, because I have been using Ubuntu since version 6.10 and have never encountered a single bug. Not one. Never crashed, never did anything I didnt want it to do. I have upgraded every 6 months the instant the next release is available. I do not use the Alpha’s or Beta’s on my main PC, tho I do test them on a 2nd PC. Those systems have bugs, but they obviously do not count.
January 29th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Mint 8/Karmic 64 bit user. What bugs? Seriously .. what bugs? Karmic is by far, without question, undeniably the most rock solid, stable Linux release I have encountered in the 10 years I have been running Linux. The only real ‘bugs’ I’ve ever seen arent even bugs. They are simply personal preferences. Everyone wants to complain about buttons being here and buttons being there. Those arent bugs people.
January 29th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
i wonder where those numbers come from. For example kde plasma has +- 700 open bugreports. i’m sure for gnome etc the situation looks similar.
So what are those open bugs mentioned here? ubuntu specific bugs caused by ubuntu patches?
Not saying that kubuntu is buggy, 9.04 is EXTREMELY stable here, what i say is that numbers you say seem a little low…
January 29th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
[...] link: Cheese Media News » Blog Archive » Ubuntu: More bugs than ever? ???????: ?????? ??????? | ?????: and-broken, are-you, [...]
January 29th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Seems unfair to bash Ubuntu because some hardware doesn’t work. If you are affected by this, fire a complaint at the vendors. I had issues with 9.04 which was due to a faulty 2GB memory module, Ubuntu crashed and was very unstable and I installed LinuxMint. Since I removed the fault memory module, I haven’t had any issues. Oh I use and AMD 64bit quad core CPU and 9.10 has behaved like a dream. Please stop bashing Ubuntu because you piece of hardware don’t work with it. Use the LiveCD for as much as possible to see if there are any compatibility issues.
Remember, the hardare that is supported by the Linux kernel is either reversed engineered by unpaid volunteers or provided by a hand full of hardware companies.
Just my pennies worth
January 29th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
I am running the 64bit Kubuntu Karmic on my Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E/H and it is VERY fast and VERY stable. I have been testing the 64bit Kubuntu Lucid Lynx daily build and find it coming along nicely. So well, in fact, that I am making plans to migrate to it when it goes gold. I support over a dozen folks my age (68) or older who have asked me to replace their infected Windows installations with Linux. I will be upgrading them to Lucid Lynx too. ALL of them are computer illiterates but have NO problems running KDE 4.3 on Kubuntu Jaunty or Karmic.
January 29th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
I read these posts and wonder.
I read posts about Windows and wonder (other places, mostly)
I wonder many things, mostly, that ‘new software is not perfect and why?’
But, since it isn’t, and since there are millions of lines and connections involved, I know some of why. But, I see at least one specific mention. AMD 64 and Ubuntu 9.10.
I was with windows, for many years, trying to jump off. Learning how to ‘tweak it’ to keep all the ills from killing me, Learning recovery from BSOD shot eyes….
There were many attempts to ‘going to Linux.’
The first one that installed in any of the several systems I used, was Ubuntu.
(Subsequently, Suse and Fedora (much later) made it. I tried and went to Ubuntu)
I have the horrid problem, at first, with nVidia not having drivers when Ubuntu loaded. Since inured to the difficulty, I just load on first run (by the way, get rid of the f***king whole screen whoring with the install display… THAT sucks!!!) It’s peccadilloes I have become familiar with, but, they are not drastic or backbreaking. Since there is no active X… 98% of security problems don’t exist.
But, this idea that AMD64 can not install or work under 9.10… I am right now using an emachine AMD (single processor) 64 bit with nVidia processor, Ubuntu 9.10, and Firefox (which I have a history back to (never liking IE) the first Netscape. (IE being first browser I really hated.)
There are an infinite combination of hardware/tweak set ups that inhibit or break the processing process in any possible computer set up.
I have no doubt, Microsoft finds and has active in posting, people to smear and besmirtch any potential competitor. I have enough actual experience with the net to know they (among other things) are computer writers who feast at the table, so to speak, and paid minions who eagerly invade forums.
Ubuntu is stated openly, a work in progress. They are fixing problems, when found, in as quick as possible, and far exceed by sometimes years, what the demons of Redmond frequently take.
But, the errors have to be found, and fixed. Feed back does that.
That is where, IMHO, Ubuntu’s problems are needing some repairs (I find most of the doors more a maze when trying to find help… but, that is because I look for easy answers, not I haven’t the foggiest, but I will splotch an answer that has nothing to do with the answer, in forums. (I have seen this on EVERY question I tried to get an answer to, in the forums at Ubuntu. I usually find solutions elsewhere.)
But, Ubuntu runs, on my system. Perfectly… No.Better than windows? Not always, but, I have 40 years in computers, and always try to find a quicker tweak… which may kill my system… So, I learn again.
9.10 bad? Broken? Doesn’t Work??
Go use Vista… Upgrade To windows 7 and immediately come back and post…
I dare you.
January 30th, 2010 at 1:03 am
[...] Ubuntu: More bugs than ever? Interestingly enough, the amount of open bugs has stayed relatively steady since Ubuntu 8.10, with Intrepid (8.10) containing 290 bugs compared to 272 in Karmic (9.10). In contrast to this, the last Long Term Support edition of Ubuntu (Hardy – 8.04) contained the most open bugs with a whopping 466 bugs remaining open to this day. [...]
January 30th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Firstly, Ubuntu is free, as in beer and speech. If you use that other operating system, you get to pay money for the bugs
. I have been running Ubuntu since 6.06 , having arrived there via a few other mainstream linux distros and liked it because it seemed to have the best administration menus.
Currently running 9.04 because I don’t need to update to get the latest and greatest. I prefer to wait about 3 months till most of the bugs are worked out.
Have to say that in 3.5 years of using Ubuntu, I haven’t had any major problems.
cheers
Fredd
January 30th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
I’ve been using Ubuntu since Gutsy (7.10). With every new release except Intrepid, I upgraded shortly after the official release. Each time I encountered bugs that were not show stoppers but were certainly annoying. A few took weeks to find satisfactory work-arounds. Karmic was the worst of the bunch and only now do I have it working well. When Lucid is released I will not make the mistake of rushing to upgrade, in fact, unless there are compelling features, I may skip the upgrade entirely. There is an old saying “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
January 30th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Ubuntu Karmic is f**king awesome! Thanks for this, guys!
February 1st, 2010 at 8:04 am
[...] la sua instabilità e per l’eccessiva presenza di bug. Stando a quanto riportato sul blog Cheese Media News – con i dati raccolti da Launchpad – Ubuntu 9.10 non è la distribuzione più buggata [...]
February 1st, 2010 at 8:12 pm
I have been using ubuntu on and off since Warty. It seems to me that Ubuntu keeps getting better, more stable and usable with each new release. There is always new bugs and regressions with a new edition, but it all sums up nice. In total i did not spend more than a couple of hours to do a total reinstall, tweak and fix everything with karmic. And i am not even any good at it.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
It’s nice to see that someone explained it by graphs
February 6th, 2010 at 6:46 am
[...] Cheese Media News » Blog Archive » Ubuntu: More bugs than ever? [...]
July 26th, 2010 at 2:24 am
In total i did not spend more than a couple of hours to do a total reinstall, tweak and fix everything with karmic. And i am not even any good at it.
http://www.eluxurysin.com/