Instructions for squeeze-backports are misleading
Hi!
We've seen a few people in #debian recently who have been trying to add
squeeze-backports to their sources.list according to the instructions page
[1] and have been struggling to do so.
[1] http://backports.debian.org/Instructions/
The instructions tell people to use
deb http://YOURMIRROR.debian.org/debian-backports squeeze-backports(-
sloppy) main
The common problems that people are having are:
* not all mirrors carry "debian-backports" so just duplicating the
sources.list line for your mirror (even if it's yourmirror.debian.org) isn't
sufficient to get it to work. It's even more confusing when only some
mirrors in a DNS rotation like ftp.us.d.o are carrying that archive. Using
something other than "YOURMIRROR.debian.org" there and telling the
prospective user to select a mirror from the mirror list (with a link to it
right there) would be much better.
* the syntax «squeeze-backports(-sloppy)» is a bit opaque for most users for
whom the entire syntax of the sources.list is a collection of cryptic runes.
Perhaps it could be two separate entries?
I wonder if a better way of addressing the mirror selection problem would be
to provide a default sources.list line that is using http.debian.net -- it
will redirect to the backports archives quite happily. The page could still
tell users that they can use their regular mirror for wheezy or a backports
mirror for squeeze if they prefer, but providing a working line with no
YOURMIRROR-style placeholders is much more useful. (I wonder how many
requests the debian nameservers are getting for yourmirror.debian.org....)
cheers
Stuart
--
Stuart Prescott http://www.nanonanonano.net/ stuart@nanonanonano.net
Debian Developer http://www.debian.org/ stuart@debian.org
GPG fingerprint BE65 FD1E F4EA 08F3 23D4 3C6D 9FE8 B8CD 71C5 D1A8
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