Rony:
>
> I have question regarding the Debian release cycle. The packages from
> unstable stay for few days before moving to testing. Can someone
> enlighten me, what do the packages do in the testing? Debian release
> circle can be 1-2 years. Do the packages need to stay for such long
> time in the testing?
Yes. Or maybe no. There's no real consensus on that. If you don't like
it (I don't either but "if I were Debian", I probably wouldn't change
it, too), you could try running unstable or testing (as long as we're
talking about desktops and not servers). backports.org is always an
option, too.
> For example, if package A version 1.0 enters unstable. Ten days later,
> it moves to testing. Six months later, package A release version 1.1.
> which goes directly to unstable. Ten more days later, it moves to
> testing. What happened to the previous version 1.0 in testing?
It gets discarded for the new release in favor of the newer version.
> If every
> packages in testing experience this, when can the distro be released?
The Debian release cycle works like this (short and probably imprecise):
- New packages (or new versions of packages) go into unstable first.
- If there is no serious problem with them, they are moved to testing
after a few days. Additional caveat: every package that this package
depends on has to be already in testing as well! The official rules
are described here:
http://www.debian.org/devel/testing
- When the Release Manager (currently Steve Langasek aka "vorlon")
thinks that testing is in shape, testing (yes, every single package in
it!) will the former stable release. Usually, directly after a release
has happened, there is a public discussion on the mailing lists about
what should be included (and what should not) in the next release, so
the Release Manager's decision on when testing becomes stable is not
solely based on his own opinion.
What's very important for a release is the number of "release-critical
bugs", or RC bugs. Official goal is zero RC bugs for every release,
but that is hard to achieve without removing packages from testing.
You can watch the state of RC bugs on this page:
http://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/
J.
--
My clothes aren't just fashion. They're a lifestyle.
[Agree] [Disagree]
<http://www.slowlydownward.com/NODATA/data_enter2.html>
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature