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Re: when is etch safe to access internet?



On Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 02:45:57PM -0500, Douglas Tutty wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Two interrelated questions:
> 
> Short question:  when can my Etch amd64 box access the net via dialup
> safely?  At one point recently in relation to Etch (pre RC1), there was
> mention somewhre (perhaps the relase notes of the time) [sorry for my
> spottty memory]  that a testing box should not be connected directly to
> the internet.  I can't find that anymore.  Right now I'm connected via
> an old 486 with a failing NIC.  Now that Etch is frozen, is it safe to
> connect directly with the modem?  
> 
The answer is yes.  The recommendation to not directly connect an Etch
or Sid box to the 'net is given so that people will not blindly go about
connecting to the 'net and thinking that they are perfectly safe.  Now,
it is probably safer to connect a Sid box (packages take from 2 to 10
days to migrate from unstable to testing, even for security fixes).
However, given that Etch is frozen, it is receiving a great deal of
attention.

> Long question:  How is security and etch transition from testing to
> stable handled?  The release and security pages say that the testing
> distribution does not get security updates.  Does this mean that Etch
> must wait to be 'stable' before security is addressed or is it just a
> hand-off from the individual maintainers to the security team?  This
> could suggest that there will be some security holes between the time it
> is released and when security updates are produced.   
> 
Security support for a release is genereally "officially" announced in
the pre-release freeze period.  That way, when the release "happens" the
security support is already up and running.  There is a team of DDs who
have a project going called "testing security", IIRC, which is supposed
to bring the same level of security support to testing as exists with
stable.

> I guess everyone is getting itchy for etch (etchy?).  
> 
Personally, I can't wait, but there are still some serious transitional
bugs to work out.

Regards,

-Roberto

-- 
Roberto C. Sanchez
http://people.connexer.com/~roberto
http://www.connexer.com

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