I’m trying to switch from endeavouros (arch based) to pop os. I heard that pop releases latest versions for some packages even though it’s a point release distro. Hence the question. Also how cutting edge are the packages in general? What advice do you have for someone about to switch to pop?
Pop!_OS gets Cosmic updates before they are even technically released.
Pop!_OS packages are not cutting edge. They are based on Ubuntu LTS. They do keep some packages more up to date than Ubuntu, such as Cosmic, kernel, mesa. But the vast majority of packages are from Ubuntu LTS unmodified.
Pop!_OS has also been lagging in using the latest Ubuntu LTS. They stuck to 22.04 for almost 4 years before releasing 24.04. It’s also not clear when they will update Pop!_OS to 26.04, but that should not take as long as 24.04.
Wasn’t that because of the COSMIC rework? I.e. the created their on DE.
Yes, but still important to keep in mind because it broke release expectations. Pop!_OS used release new versions every 6 months and then stopped releasing new versions while working on COSMIC and now only does LTS releases.
And now that COSMIC is “done”, it’s still not quite clear when they will release 26.04. I actually just found a quote from the CEO of System76 where he said “Future Pop!_OS releases, starting with Pop!_OS 26.04 LTS, will now align with the Ubuntu LTS release timing (approximately two weeks after the Ubuntu release date)” but that obviously didn’t happen.
They test a LOT of the packages from what I understand. Not a good or bad thing but it does make things harder to update as time goes on.