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I am running latest Kubuntu 20.04 with dolphin file manager version 19.12.3. However the latest stable version is already available as 20.04.3 https://kde.org/applications/en/system/org.kde.dolphin

Therefore, I am wondering if the release cycle is different as officially I couldn't download it and latest available version is still locked to the older version of 19.12.3 https://pkgs.org/download/dolphin

I realised that i could possibly simply fetch the latest version from flatpak as well https://flathub.org/apps/details/org.kde.dolphin

However, I am interested to know why it was not available to download officially. Also, I would like to know the lifecycle of latest stable version of KDE packages to be released for Kubuntu/Ubuntu repository and when would it be available to download officially? Thank you

hsinam
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2 Answers2

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Here's how to find out for yourself:

  • You can find the correct version for your release of Ubuntu (including Kubuntu, of course), using the madison search feature in the apt-cache application.

      $ apt-cache madison dolphin
dolphin | 4:19.12.3-0ubuntu1 | http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 Packages

    The correct version of dolphin in 20.04 (Focal) is 19.12.3-0ubuntu1

  • You can find the correct version for ALL supported releases of Ubuntu using the rmadison command, provided by the devscripts package.

    $ rmadison dolphin
dolphin | 4:4.8.2-0ubuntu2    | precise                 | amd64, armel, armhf, i386, powerpc
dolphin | 4:4.8.5-0ubuntu0.1  | precise-updates         | amd64, armel, armhf, i386, powerpc
dolphin | 4:4.13.0-0ubuntu1   | trusty/universe         | amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el
dolphin | 4:4.13.3-0ubuntu0.1 | trusty-updates/universe | amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el
dolphin | 4:15.12.3-0ubuntu1  | xenial/universe         | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, powerpc, ppc64el, s390x
dolphin | 4:17.12.3-0ubuntu1  | bionic/universe         | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el, s390x
dolphin | 4:19.04.3-0ubuntu1  | eoan/universe           | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, i386, ppc64el, s390x
dolphin | 4:19.12.3-0ubuntu1  | focal/universe          | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x
dolphin | 4:20.04.3-0ubuntu1  | groovy/universe         | source, amd64, arm64, armhf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x

    Dolphin 20.04.3 is not available in Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal). It's available in Ubuntu 20.10 (Groovy), which is scheduled for release in October 2020 and is currently in pre-release testing.

    Most users should NOT be trying to manually download and install new versions. You risk breaking your system, and you will get those upgrades with the next release of Ubuntu anyway. That's one reason Ubuntu does interim releases every six months.

    You are welcome to become a 20.10 tester, of course. We can always use more folks willing to test, troubleshoot, and file good bug reports on the problem that they discover in new software.

user535733
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  • Does this also mean that Dolphin 20.04.03 file manager update would never hit to the focal fossa LTS and we have to wait for next two years until Ubuntu 22.04 LTS gets released? – hsinam Sep 13 '20 at 20:01
  • No, you need only wait for Ubuntu 20.10. If you want newer software regularly, then LTS-only seems an unwise choice. LTS is intended for precisely the opposite use case: Folks who want their software unchanged for years at a time. – user535733 Sep 13 '20 at 21:36
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"I am interested to know why it was not available to download officially"

For stability, software undergoes testing before it gets pushed to Ubuntu users via updates.

Free and open-source software is not quite like commercial, for-profit software. Linux software users are typically the guinea pigs in testing new software. Large, for-profit developers of software usually have huge teams and loads of resources to fully test software before it's ever released to the market.

In Linux, the "latest" software is rarely the "greatest", because it's not really quite finished yet.

Different distros have different release schedules for software. Some distros are aimed at users who want the newest software no matter what and they provide "bleeding edge" software that has undergone practically no testing at all.

Other distros spend a lot of time and effort with new software to make sure that it's bug free and that it doesn't have security vulnerabilities before before pushing these updates to users and subjecting users to a potentially unsafe, or catastrophically buggy update.

You're using Ubuntu 20.04 which is a long term stable (LTS) release. Untested, "bleeding edge" software is not going to be pushed to a LTS release because it could potentially break your system. Unless you have a dire need for a specific feature in a newer release, you probably shouldn't even try to install it, because it's not software that is in the list of available packages and this could inadvertently cause conflicts.

However, as you mentioned, if you really need to, there are channels to install newer software than what's in Ubuntu repositories, like FlatPak. In some cases you can also enable "backports" which could allow you access to a newer version (although probably not the newest, due to the reasons mentioned above)

Nmath
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