Re:What often really matters are the upstream apps (Score 1)

If your distribution closely follows upstream, and has a good policy on dealing with upstream it can help to report bugs. The keys to this are 1. Patching the distributions instance of a package as little as possible, so it's as much like upstream as possible 2. Having packagers work closely with upstream to ensure that bugs filed against the distribution are filed against the upstream project. 3. If a fix is made in the distribution- to get that patch offered upstream.