Kali Linux Community Members:

Having begun to take notice of some of the choices that Ubuntu's developers have made in terms of its distribution, I am becoming more interested in moving away from it to another Debian based distribution. I recently looked at Debian Wheezy and Kali 1.0.5 (which immediately upgraded itself to 1.0.6 on the first update after installation). However, it seems that many packages (I can ennumerate them in a future post if that is utilitarian to do) seem to either not be available or at lower versions (compared to what is available for Ubuntu).

Here are some things I am curious about:

1) When Debian versions of a package (say Hercules, which Debian Wheezy and Ubuntu have at version 3.07) is available at a higher version, how do I request it be upgraded in the Debian repos (which I presume would "trickle down" to Kali Linux), or in the Kali Linux repos (though it would seem more prudent to request it at the Debian level)?

2) Ubuntu offers Xastir (and some other Amateur Radio pacakges), but they seem to be unavailable for download in binary format with Kali Linux, how can these be requested?

3) If a product such as Google Earth is available for Ubuntu, how difficult is it to use such packages for Kali Linux or Debian Wheezy installs?

What experiences have others had with lower version and unavailable packages and what choices might I have? Of course, I am willing and open to buidling things from source, though I would want to do so via the debian package manager not from tar *****/manually (if avoidable).

Thanks!


Stuart