Re: How unstable is Unstable?

["Steve Lamb" <grey@dmiyu.org>]

Leonid Grinberg said:
> Unstable, I know, does not have this problem. So I am wondering, how
> unstable is it? I might be getting a new computer within a few months,
> and am considering installing Debian Unstable on it. But what should I
> expect? Will it crash a few times a month, or a day? How much work is
> it?

    The quick and dirty answer is this:  Debian's "unstable" is often far
more stable than other distributions "stable" branch.  Certainly far
less problems than Redmond's "Stable" branch.  ;)  That is if your
definition of stable is "runs without too many hiccups" and not "doesn't
change version numbers frequently."

    Other people have posted anecdotal evidence of unstable's stablity. 
Here's mine, about a decade of riding unstable on a variety of machines
and I can think of maybe once or twice where something major broke and
wasn't fixed within, say, a few hours.  IE, I updated at exactly the
wrong few hours and got nailed.  I don't update every day or sometimes
every week.  It is often when something annoys me enough to make me want
to see if it's been fixed in the latest version offered in Unstable.

    If you're fairly confident of your Debian-fu and take appropriate
precautions you shouldn't have serious problems cropping up except once
every couple blue moons.

-- 
Steve Lamb