I'm glad you brought it up! You're right, we do need updates to our packages. I've been looking for volunteers to help out with this and I'm sure you (or anyone else, as it's pretty simple if you know how to use UNIX) can sacrifice a little time here and there to help bring Mer packages based on Fremantle packages up to date with the code drops.

Basically, a summary of the common-with-Fremantle packages and the version differences can be found here

To do something about a package not being up to date, it is fairly simple:

Make yourself a launchpad.net account, and upload your SSH keys and install Bazaar.

Grab the source package the Mer package is based on, and the new one from fremantle. diff -ruN them, and save the diff.

Then:
* bzr branch <lp:something listed in table>
* cd into the checked out directory
* apply patch from before (patch -p1 < patchname probably) , fix it if it doesn't apply cleanly (watch out for configure and autoconf generated things)
* bzr add any added files (avoid .rej and .orig, bzr status is a good tool.)
* dch -m -i , and add your personal log message. Call it mer version + 1.
* bzr commit -m "your personal log message"
* bzr push lp:~yourusername/m-r/packagename
* Ideally, bzr export <some dir> lp:~yourusername/m-r/packagename , cd <some dir> and try to dpkg-buildpackage -b it.
* Point us to the branch and we'll put the branch in the repository and build it.

Now, you've done a small but necessary job to help bring Fremantle components to Mer, and to your N8x0 (or 770) and you can feel good about having contributed to this community effort.