[developer2]

That point about Linux distros such as Ubuntu is something I was looking to mention, but I'm not 100% sure I have my facts straight. That said, here's what I believe is the case. ;)

The repositories can be similar to OS X in terms of providing really outdated versions of many packages. The same day Ubuntu releases a new version of the OS, packages can already be over a year out of date from the releases made by the software's developer.

The distros won't update the official repositories with newer versions of software once the version is pinned during the testing phase of the OS, due to the extensive amount of quality assurance that goes into ensuring system-wide stability. Their reasons are justified, but the end result still means you're typically not running the best and latest of anything.

Things are a little more difficult to understand with versioning in Linux. You may have git 2.5.0, but if you're on a release of the distro for which support is still ongoing, those CVEs are probably fixed due to backported security patches that don't bump the software's version number. In this manner, official repositories on Linux distros usually give you outdated software in terms of new features, but keep you entirely up to date in terms of security.

Information for Ubuntu in particular: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates

And then... TIL about the backports repository: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBackports