>>>>> "Thatcher" == Thatcher Ulrich <tu@tulrich.com> writes: [...] Thatcher> stable == 2.x Thatcher> testing == 3.x Thatcher> unstable == 4.x testing and unstable are constantly changing (except for now, when testing is in a freeze), so it doesn't make any sense to give them numbers. The only real designation that would make sense for testing and unstable would be the date of your last apt-get upgrade (and even then it could be inaccurate, depending on what mirror you use. Also, I believe the master archive is prone to change at any time during the day...). Nothing should have a version number until it becomes stable. Until then, the codename is the only way you should be referring to it. Really, the only reason anyone is complaining (ok, two reasons, the second probably being the main reason) are - Debian has a very open development model. What you see in the unstable archive is basically what the developers are working on too. They even have a public experimental repository, which is even more unstable than unstable, and if you want to be even more unstable, some developers will post super-unstable-almost-guaranteed-to-be- packaged-incorrectly packages on their own pages. This means that everyone gets to see what's going on, and gets to criticize it. - Woody is taking a long time to release, and Potato shipped with some old packages. It's taken a long time due to various reasons that have been discussed before, so I won't go into them. The developers will figure it out eventually, and once they get down to a sane release delay (a year or so between releases), you'll be able to run almost-ultra-cutting-edge stuff, and it'll be rock solid. Then newbies shouldn't have to deal with anything other than stable (which will have version numbers attached, "just like the Big Boys!"), and people who have been around for a while, well, they'll already know the ropes. -- Hubert Chan <hubert@uhoreg.ca> - http://www.uhoreg.ca/ PGP/GnuPG key: 1024D/124B61FA Fingerprint: 96C5 012F 5F74 A5F7 1FF7 5291 AF29 C719 124B 61FA Key available at wwwkeys.pgp.net. Encrypted e-mail preferred.
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