debian versions (was: package installation problem)

[Charles Hallenbeck]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Hi Robbie,

I don't think Debian is available on CD's much beyond the stable release 
(Sarge) or maybe an earlier stable one. I doubt you could keep it up to 
date over a dialup connection. You would be spending lots of hours 
retrieving stuff, at least with unstable you would.

There are always three versions of Debian available. Currently stable is 
called Sarge, testing is called Etch, and unstable is always called Sid. 
Stable remains fixed except for security updates. Etch is a sort of 
staging area where the next stable release gradually takes shape. 
Eventually it will be judged mature enough to replace Sarge as the 
stable version, at which point Sarge becomes history, Etch becomes the 
stable release, and a new name is thought up for a new testing release.

Meanwhile Sid exists (unstable) as a kind of rapid turnover beta testing 
collection of things. New offerings appear in Sid first, where they 
remain until the kinks are worked out. Users of Sid are warned that 
things might sometimes break, but the fact is that when that happens, 
they get fixed pretty quickly too. Packages are moved into testing from 
unstable at some point, hopefully bug free, but of course occasionally 
something show up in testing that had not been seen before. When that 
happens, testing is generally out of luck until the cycle begins again. 
The fix appears in unstable and is put through the mill again, 
eventually returning to testing after a successful exposure in Sid. 

So you see, if you really to keep up with the latest version of things, 
unstable is the place to be. If you want a rock solid release that will 
not give you any surprises, then stable is the place to be. If you want 
to be a little bit ahead of the game, but are afraid of being a beta 
tester, then testing might be the place. The trouble with testing is 
that broken packages stay broken until they pass the test of use in 
unstable once more. 

HTH

Chuck

- -- 
The Moon is Waning Gibbous (65% of Full)
Get downloads from http://www.mhcable.com/~chuckh
  and remember, INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE!
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.3 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFERpPxXnuiIOyDVQURAqsOAKCLdRRCdTBppFDrAtm5c94rJukKtwCeOkZm
eOT5fzF+sEev7xEkM+vNqd4=
=3DM6
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----