I have Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS and often have issues with it, but can never find a relevant answer here. 10 year old answers just don't work for newer versions of Ubuntu.
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3If I'm looking for advice on something, I don't care what release the information comes from as long as I know what OS/release it's for, and maybe when it was written (ie. clues as to the software stack involved), as then I can adjust for the current system I'm using. Sure many things change over time, but many things in GNU/Linux today are identical to what they were when I learnt Unix in the 1980s. If we have dates on things, we can adjust it to our newer/older software stack (assuming you have some knowledge about time/change)– guivercCommented Dec 13, 2022 at 10:32
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1If you edit your question and remove your broad generalizations, I'll also revert my downvote to an upvote. Cheers! 😎– Artur MeinildCommented Dec 13, 2022 at 11:12
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2@Anthony Forwood: I agree. Not only are there many "Duplicated" questions ten years old or older, there are often 20 or more obsolete answers to the old question to confuse the OP.– C.S.CameronCommented Dec 13, 2022 at 12:18
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Keep in mind that this question isn't specifically about duplicates. Can it apply to duplicates? Yes. Is it also true for some duplicates? Yes. But again, the main focus here really isn't duplicates...– Artur MeinildCommented Dec 13, 2022 at 14:28
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Can you be more specific? You've only ever asked one question on Ask Ubuntu, and it didn't have anything to do with old, outdated answers.– NmathCommented Dec 13, 2022 at 19:16
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2I've tried using StackExchange over the years for various computer related help, and my experience has almost always been that the answers are way out of date and not specific enough to my problem, whether or not (usually not, under the circumstances) I post a question after seeing all the similar questions that are suggested. And the attitudes of many/most of the people who respond are just rude, criticizing put-downs. Who needs that?– Anthony ForwoodCommented Dec 14, 2022 at 12:06
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3I don't see any rudeness here but I do see disagreement. The only criticism I see here is constructive criticism, like the multiple requests for specifics so that we can address your question with real world examples. People who can't handle disagreement or constructive criticism generally can't survive in collaborative spaces. You still haven't provided any specifics even after multiple people have asked you for examples. To claim that all Qs and As on the site are outdated is demonstrably false. To be productive, give some examples and let's see what we can do to help you.– NmathCommented Dec 15, 2022 at 20:56
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3 Answers
First, I generally disagree with you that "all the questions/answers on this site so old" and that you "can never find a relevant answer here". That's an over-generalization that simply isn't true.
However, I can think of some examples where this can be true. Question and answers that are very specific to certain desktop environments can change dramatically over time. My advice here would be to first search for a relevant answer. If none is found for your particular version of Ubuntu, ask a new question, and tag it with your version (22.04 for instance). Then it's perfectly clear that the question and answer is for that particular version.
There are many topics where 10-20 year old answers are still perfectly valid. Some examples are:
- General Debian/Ubuntu package management (basic features of
apt- not newer features of course) - Generel CLI applications - GNU coreutils,
vimandnanoeditors etc. - General scripting questions (Bash, Python etc. - basic features, not cutting edge)
- Kernel and application compilation questions
- Other questions on general Ubuntu and Linux topics
Then there are some questions, where you have to know when underlying technologies have changed. In these cases, only answers from after the Ubuntu version in which these features were introduced apply in that scenario. Again some examples:
systemdwas introduced (replacingupstartas the default init system) in Ubuntu 15.04netplanwas introduced (replacingifupdownfor network configuration) in Ubuntu 17.10ZFSfilesystem support (kernel module) was added in Ubuntu 16.04python2was removed from the distribution as default in Ubuntu 20.04- PulseAudio was introduced in Ubuntu 8.04 - and again replaced by PipeWire in Ubuntu 22.10
- Wayland as a display server was included from Ubuntu 17.10 - and recently was changed to default for non-Nvidia cards on Ubuntu 21.04 and Nvidia cards on Ubuntu 21.10
- Gnome 3.X Desktop was introduced in Ubuntu 18.04 (default flavor)
- Gnome 4X Desktop was introduced in Ubuntu 21.10 (default flavor)
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2Please add more examples to the last list if you can think of some good ones.. 👍 Commented Dec 13, 2022 at 11:08
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I think Unity is less relevant right here, as it was phased out in 18.04 (EOL) and now exist as an official flavor. Commented Dec 13, 2022 at 11:33
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2@ArturMeinild this might surprise you ubuntuunity.org/blog/ubuntu-unity-becomes-an-official-flavor Commented Dec 13, 2022 at 12:11
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2Why? I just wrote above that it's now an official flavor. But since it was phased out of the main Ubuntu in 18.04 (which is EOL), any question about the past Unity releases would be off-topic. Therefore it's less relevant in a historic context, but still relevant for the Unity flavor. Does that make sense? Commented Dec 13, 2022 at 12:12
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1I am afraid I don't understand what you mean. Unity questions are on topic and relevant, right? Just like any of the other official flavors. Commented Dec 13, 2022 at 12:19
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2I don't think I can explain further. Unity is still on-topic - let's leave it at that. Commented Dec 13, 2022 at 12:21
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@Artur Meinild: When did Ubuntu 18.04 go EOL? By my count it still has five years and four month to go before it is EOL. In four months it will become EOSS. Commented Dec 15, 2022 at 4:36
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You're right, that was a miscalculation on my part... Commented Dec 15, 2022 at 6:38
Just for reference, there are currently:
3,464 open questions tagged 22.04
1,616 of those have answers
Another 3,458 that mention 22.04 but are missing that tag.
1,445 of those have answers
And that's 10 months into the 22.04 lifecycle.
The equivalent numbers for 20.04 (the vast majority of which will still apply to 22.04) are 12,396, 7,271, 13,451, and 7,432.
Sure, there are hundreds of thousands more that apply to even older releases (or may not mention any release), but if you ...
can never find a relevant answer here
... then you are hitting some really bad odds ;-). But, as @ArturMeinild mentioned, if that's the case, then please do add your question! If there's already a question out there that doesn't have an answer (or that answer doesn't work for you) - Upvote and perhaps even add a bounty!
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2Just a note regarding the "have answers" filter. You may need to use
answers:1instead ofisanswered:1. The "isanswered" filter does not include answered questions that don't have upvoted answers. "answers:1", however, will return all questions that have at least one answer.– DanCommented Dec 14, 2022 at 12:51 -
@Dan Thanks - Good info! I'll recheck with the right filter and update later when I'm back on a non-mobile keyboard ;-) Commented Dec 14, 2022 at 19:20
I have registered on this site in December 2020, and the focus of my interest was 20.04.
My main motivation in registering was to share solutions to stumbling blocks that I encountered, and to thus give back to the Ubuntu project (which I appreciate a lot). Helping others here seemed to be a good way to contribute. I ended up posting quite a few answers before posting my first question.
All the while, I did not find a usable answer to the most painful problem that I had with Ubuntu at the time.
I ended up having to research the topic myself with only the tiniest of assistance.
Six weeks later, AskUbuntu finally got equipped with a very detailed, very helpful answer regarding my original question. This answer had everything in it that I wished to find in the first place! Its appearance was not a coincidence however: having been succesful in my research and in reaching my goal, I posted it myself.
I share this story to illustrate how dedication produces the content on this site, and how it can sometimes be our own dedication that contributes to our collective success.
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