Björn Stenberg wrote:
Markus Grunwald <markus.grunwald@gmx.de> wrote: [...]I find it a bit strange (not only of you, as i hear of seomtehing like that every second or third day) to install testing or even unstable to not experienced linux or debian users....Then what what should they do? Debian currently has nothing to offer non-developers who want to run linux on their desktop. Stable is so out of date as to be virtually useless for desktop use. The fact that many people find themselves forced to run debian against recommended practice is a clear symptom of a system error. Fixing the symptom (telling users to run stable and backport applications themselves) does not fix the flaw. PS. Anyone responding with the idiotic knee-jerk "don't whine, fix it yourself" will get a virtual slapping.
Some time ago I thought about this and came to this conclusion: On the server side, I appreciate debian being so stable and reliable. As a workstation OS I'm often not happy that I have to backport all newer packages.
Couldn't this be resolved the following way: One could split the distribution itself:
Debian could be made of a base installation (glibc, etc.) that is the same for all stable plattforms. On top of this one could put context specific application distros. During install you could choose what the context of your installation is:
- Hardened server: Just the most important and very secure packages- Application server: More server packages, but still conservative and optimized for stability - Workstation: All the newest ports and packages, that everybody loves having on his / hers desktop
Depending on the context your installation's in you get different packages to choose from. Of course, the dependencies should be in a way, that you could install every package of another context, if necessary. Like this, everybody would get what he / she wants: A super stable system / a extremly secure one or the latest cutting edge apps with all the bells and whistles...
This could be achieved by adding a field to the .debs saying in which context the package is recommended. Packages that are not suited for a specific context simply wouldn't be considered by dselect, apt-get or whatever, until you explicitly tell apt-get to do it.
What do others think of my idea? Regards Marcel
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