on Sun, May 27, 2001 at 06:27:00PM -0400, Carl Fink (carlf@panix.com) wrote:
> On Sun, May 27, 2001 at 02:07:46PM -0700, Karsten M. Self wrote:
>
> > Testing is unstable + 10 days - bugs.
>
> Oh.
>
> I misunderstood what it was for -- I always assumed it was "almost
> frozen" and once it was created, packages in it would not be updated
> except for necessary fixes. So it's basically "slightly more stable
> than unstable".
Note the difference between "Woody" and "testing".
"Testing" is always unstable packages 10 days or older, with no
outstanding bugs (of some specified severity).
"Woody" is the Debian release targetted as 2.3 (I believe), which is
currently targeted for release summer/fall 2001.
Woody is currently "testing". When Woody is released, it will become
"stable". "Potato" will slide to unmaintained or old or something
similar. "Unstable" will continue to be "Sid" ("sid" is always defined
as the current unstable release), and a new name will be designated for
the next testing series.
Where this matters most is in your /etc/apt/sources.list file. By
specifying a release state ("stable", "testing", "unstable"), you are
tracking Debian by _release status_. E.g.: if you're tracking "stable", your
system will always be on the stable track, and will be automagickally
upgraded between releases as new Debian releases are finalized. If
you're tracking a _specific release_, e.g.: potato, through its
lifecycle, you'd start with the testing release (at one time you would
have started with the unstable release, this has changed), cycle through
stable, and finally be running an unmaintained release of debian (I
don't believe old releases are maintained in a significant fashion).
For this reason, I tend to advocate tracking by release status rather
than by release name, for operational systems. This tends to be what
you really want. For specialized purposes, however, tracking a specific
release may be the desired outcome. You have the flexibility to do
either.
OK, so, having pulled that out of my ass, where is the definitive
description of all this in the docs or Debian website?
Cheers.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
Disclaimer: http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/stupid-disclaimers/
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