[snark42]

Yep.

For basic apt-get Ubuntu starts by merging with debian for each release: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDevelopment/ReleaseProcess#Mer...

Magnet links have been supported since rtorrent 0.8.9 which was release in June 2011. It was available for debian sid in September 2011 and is currently available in wheezy backports even. It was available for Ubuntu in April 2012 (possibly October 2011.)

GIMP 2.8 has been available for Debian since May 2012 if you run sid (or backport from sid). Debian stable since May 2013. Ubuntu since October 2012. Not sure where Mint gets it sources from.

These seem like reasonable delays in getting the package made available for testing.