Rick Moen wrote:
>Quoting Niall O Broin (niall at linux.ie):
>>>>>Almost always, yes, except as now, right before a new stable release.
>>Because if you say "testing" now you'll get packages from sarge. But if
>>you are then unwise enough to not change that to "stable" after the
>>release, isn't there a danger that you'll find yourself in "etch" land
>>without wanting to be ?
>>>>>>The question assumes that branch names are ultimately more meaningful than
>are functional names (that you "might not want to be" on where the
>functional name gets repointed). I deny the premise. ;->
>>That is, if you decide you like the distance from the bleeding edge
>before the ftp-master admins do...
>># rm testing
># ln -s etch testing
>>...then, you logically will also like that distance afterwards, too.
>>I've had systems track "testing" through two such changeovers, so far.
>Works for me<tm>.
>>>I know, I know, I said I'd shut up :-)
If you want a testing machine, then use testing! If you want a sarge
machine, use sarge! If you want a stable machine, use stable!
As of right this second, I would argue that using sarge is a good
idea. Of course once it is release it should be changed to stable, but
given Debians historical release schedule you will have a long time to
do that without any consequences as oppossed to the time to switch from
testing to stable if you want to avoid drifting into etch in it's
formative days.
I would suggest most people installing Debian now for the first time
would want the next release (the RC candidate), and not the eternally in
progress testing. Of course the longer it goes until etch is released
the more tempting it will become to step further away from stable.
Rick Moen also wrote:
>Rule of thumb: Don't _ever_ merely rely on the Debian Security Team's
>updates auto-flowing out to your system on anything other than a pure
>Debian-stable system. On anything else, you can't just switch off your
>brain and mindlessly type "apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade" with
>complete, unthinking confidence, as you typically can on Debian-stable.
EXACTLY!
But as of right now you can merely rely on the Debian Security Team's
updates on sarge, it is, as of now (well it should be and appears to be
even though it was delayed), treated equally to debian-stable as it
could be stable any day now (ok probably more realistically any
fortnight now)! If I'm wrong and security update still haven't started
for sarge please correct me!
In reality I would only really recommend people install stable, and
venture beyond that only if they are happy to accept that they are
walking into risky territory and should understand what they are doing
(like trying to track security issues). At a time like this though,
the next release is an option and for a workstation is certainly the way
to go (no-one has seriously suggested installing woody in this thread).
Rick Moen firstly said:
>Quoting Niall Walsh (linux at esatclear.ie):
>>>>>> I would suggest sarge+unstable with apt-pinning if you want to be able
>>> to get to the latest and greatest software on a desktop, just sarge if
>>> you just want a solid system.
>>>>>>Strongly agree, except using branch names rather than functional
>(symlink) names is almost aways a mistake. So, I'd say
>"testing+unstable with apt-pinning" and "just testing", in the above.
>I stick with my argument that NOW sarge is the way to go, sarge+sid with
apt-pinning if you want to get at the latest and greatest. Once sarge
is released you can start to consider whether you want to run a stable
system (sarge), testing system (etch) or unstable system (sid). Of
course if you are suitably conscious of how debian works this is all
irrelevant as you will always ensure your sources.list is right (for
your given value of right), but this all started with Justin asking
which release and apt sources he should use.
Note for completeness (and confusion) I changed to sarge+sid in the last
example, cause using sid (branch name) rather then unstable (symlink) is
just fine and unambiguous, sid is ALWAYS unstable, though I guess as he
is the BOY who breaks all the toys perhaps someday he will mature and
become a man and be allowed to grow old gracefully with all the others.
Niall Walsh
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