Ever wished Ubuntu was a rolling release? You’re not alone — and now you can roll your own!
Ubuntu desktop lead Martin Wimpress has created a tool called Rolling Rhino. Its aim: convert an Ubuntu daily build image into a “rolling release” distro by opting into and tracking the devel series of changes/packages.
“Rolling Rhino is intended for Ubuntu developers and experienced Ubuntu users who want to install Ubuntu once and the track all development updates with automatic tracking of subsequent series,” he says of the tool.
I’m not on top of the modern arguments as to why Ubuntu adopting a rolling release model would be of benefit to developers (much less regular Joes like me). But, that said, this tool looks like an interesting proof of concept (and a fun way to waste a few hours over the weekend).
Now, unless Canonical makes a major update to its development model we’re unlikely to see an official rolling release build any time soon. But with the pedigree behind this tool it’s perhaps as close to the real thing as things can get!
There are a slew of caveats to keep in mind when using this tool, like the fact it can’t (currently) detect PPAs or desktop meta-packages, and has no GUI.
You also must be prepared to roll up your sleeves to fix any issues that occur from running devel series packages on your system (and you should probably report any bugs you encounter too).
For more details, and to try Ubuntu Rolling Rhino out for yourself you can head over to the project on GitHub.