Linux live CD with Pidgin?

[Rob Stampfli]

On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 12:35:02PM -0500, Ethan Blanton wrote:
> Rob Stampfli spake unto us the following wisdom:
> > On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 05:26:57PM +0100, David Balazic wrote:
> > > I believe Ubuntu has Pidgin.
> > 
> > It does, but Ubuntu tends to stick with a given version of a package
> > and only release fixes for security issues within their own generic
> > cycle.  Hence, Pidgin tends to become increasingly out of date, and
> > with a package that sometimes must rapidly adapt to volatile protocols,
> > this can be problematic.
> > 
> > For this reason, I recommend pitching Ubuntu's Pidgin package and
> > using the one at Getdeb, which seems to do a much better job of
> > providing the latest and greatest version Pidgin.  Their current
> > version works great for me:
> 
> Pidgin "official" policy frowns upon getdeb.  We have seen it cause
> numerous problems with Pidgin and, what is worse, dependencies of
> Pidgin in the past.  If you wish to use it, that is fine, but other
> readers of the list may wish to know that it is a known source of
> problems.  Caveat lector.

Thanks for the info, Ethan, and I'll keep it in mind.  I can understand
that such a package might impact other Ubuntu packages that depend on it,
but what sort of problems have the Pidgin team observed with the getdeb
version of Pidgin itself?  I presume they just compile the official
version and don't tweak the code themselves.

The only oddity I've noted is that the getdeb version seems to
change the way the conversation window pops up.  Instead of always
being on top, it seem to sometimes materialize under another window,
and that can be problematic.  But, when a protocol change necessitates
a new version of Pidgin to restore functionality, Ubuntu's response
can be agonizingly slow, while getdeb's is usualy within 24 hrs.

What is the official position of the Pidgin team wrt Ubuntu in
such situations?   Compile your own copy?

Thanks,
Rob