Re: CUT rolling release debian BUT a cautionary comment
On 20150306_0909-0500, Jape Person wrote:
> On 03/06/2015 06:12 AM, Jaromír Mikeš wrote:
> >Hello,
> >
> >I was exited when I heard couple of years ago about rolling release debian
> >- CUT.
> >But there are not news on this topic anywhere ... is this idea still living?
> >
> >best regards
> >
> >mira
> >
>
> Hello.
>
> This isn't a direct answer to your question about CUT, but might be of some
> help.
>
> I've been using Debian testing as a kind of rolling release since Lenny on
> my four most important systems. (I just use "testing" in place of the code
> word -- lenny, squeeze, wheezy, jessie, etc. --in /etc/apt/sources.list.)
>
> On rare occasions I've had to scramble for a few minutes to regain lost
> functions when a package upgrade has resulted in malfunction of one part of
> the system or another, but none of the systems has ever been down-and-out
> for more than the few minutes it takes to find out what's wrong and
> reconfigure to fix it. This has even been the case when it comes time for
> the distro upgrade that happens when testing becomes the new stable.
>
> I'd suggest that it's best to upgrade a system configured in this manner
> daily. This makes the changes more incremental instead of sweeping. Longer
> periods between upgrades might make troubleshooting a new issue pretty tough
> to do since you'd have a lot more package changes to sort through to find a
> culprit.
>
> Reading the development and announcement lists is very helpful in knowing
> what to expect. And using apt-listchanges and apt-listbugs along with
> aptitude's interactive TUI during each daily upgrade has made the upgrading
> and troubleshooting process very logical and easy to do, in my experience.
>
> Obviously, during a freeze (like the one for Jessie now) you see far fewer
> package upgrades which are much less likely to cause functional issues.
>
> The braver souls run Sid / experimental as a kind of rolling release. That,
> I think, requires quite a bit more savvy in the use of techniques like
> pinning and other manipulations of apt's configuration. But it provides a
> more consistent access to later versions of all of the software packages and
> their new features.
>
> So, maybe you can set up your own personal rolling release? It is more work
> on a routine basis that running stable, but I've enjoyed doing it.
When things are 'normal', testing actually *is* a rolling release, except
that Debian people like to use words to mean what they actually mean and
not what some over enthusiastic booster wishes.
>
> Good luck!
My comment to OP:
I've been using Debian since Potato. I love it, but you should have at
least two computers running Debian, and be able to spend a few hours
or days with one of them non-functional, for the following reason:
After a release of a new stable, i.e. a distribution baring a code
name, such as Woody, or Jessie, the pre-release freeze on
non-release-critical packages is un-frozen and a flood of package
updates, etc. arrive in 'testing'. IMHO, one should avoid doing upgrades
just to keep uptodate. Its best to wait for the flood to subside. But
how will you know? And how long can you wait with your only computer in
a non-bootable state? If you know about this, which might not be the case,
be warned and have a plan. With only one computer, and it broken, it is
hard to get help from this list. It might be a disaster.
OTOH, it might be a good excuse to rush out and buy newer, fancier
computer. ;-)
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net
Reply to: