On Tue, Dec 19, 2006 at 11:33:10AM -0800, tom arnall wrote: > On Monday 18 December 2006 11:10, Andrew Sackville-West wrote: > > > > largely. Are you currently pointed at testing or at etch? If at > > testing, you might want to change to etch so you don't get caught out. > > > > my one etch server has really calmed down on the upgrades in the last > > couple weeks. Of course, there's not much on there (mail, imap, > > various shares, clamav and a couple others...). > Thanks for getting back to me. By 'pointed at Etch', do you mean get rid of > the 'testing' addresses and have only 'stable' in 'sources.list'? Hate being > a nervous nelly, but it means a lot to me to get a solid os on my machine. I > want to be able to promote linux among my friends, but can do this only if I > can easily support them. I suggest you change your source.list to 'etch' which is currently synonymous with 'testing'. That way you'll follow etch into stable. after 'etch' has migrated to stable, you could change your sources.list to point to 'stable' so that you don't follow 'etch' into 'oldstable'. I would make that change from 'testing' to 'etch' right away so you don't accidently get caught in the beowulf-cluster-fsck that will happen in 'testing' after 'etch' moves into stable. Making that change right now will NOT affect the system as 'etch' and 'testing' are the same thing at this moment. warning! train platform analogy! warning! okay, here's how I view the releases. Debian is like a set of trains. There are a limited number of platforms for getting on the trains. Each platform has a name and they are 'experimental', 'unstable', 'testing', 'stable' and 'oldstable' (are there any more?). Each train has a name too, though the train doesn't get named until its on the track between the unstable and testing platforms. currently, there are four named trains: 'woody', which is parked at the 'oldstable' platform, 'sarge' which is parked at the 'stable' platform, and 'etch' which is parked at the 'testing' platform. The fourth one, 'sid' is a special case -- its a train that is still being assembled at the 'unstable' platform and is rolled piece-meal down the track, added to whatever train is sitting at the 'testing' platform, currently 'etch'. So 'etch' is at the 'testing' platform getting the final touches put on it before it moves down the line to the 'stable' platform pushing 'sarge' and 'woody' down the line. unfortunately for 'woody', the line ends just on the other side of the 'oldstable' platform and the poor guy will get mothballed and left on a siding. Okay. there are two basic ways to use the debian train. 1) buy a ticket for a particular train. you can buy tickets for any of the named trains, 'etch', 'sarge', 'woody', etc. When you buy this ticket, you board the train and use its tools at whatever platform it is currently parked at and you'll ride that train right on down to the end of the line. unless you change your ticket (there is no service charge for this). 2) rent a seat at one of the platforms 'unstable', 'testing', 'stable' etc. you can rent a seat at any platform and make use of whatever tools are on the train you want while that train is parked at that platform. However, when the train moves on to the next platform, you are left behind at the station, and have to use the tools from the next train coming down the line. Again, you can change your tickets at any time for no fee. The only caveat to ticket changing is that the train is running up a VERY steep hill from 'experimental' to 'oldstable'. In order to get from one of the lower platforms like 'unstable' or 'testing' to one of the higher platforms like 'stable' or 'oldstable', you have to either do a LOT of climbing (this is called downgrading. don't know why as its an uphill climb ;-P ) or you have to change to a train ticket and catch a ride up there. Realise of course, that the tools available at the next train station will then be the same ones as you currently use, because you're riding on the train with that set of tools. warning! application of train analogy! warning! okay, so you're currently renting a seat at the testing station and using the tools on that train, which is called etch. however, you know that this train, etch, is about to pull out of the station. If you like the tools on this train, you better hop on it now before it pulls out of the station. Otherwise, you'll have to use the tools on the next train, called 'lenny', but those tools are still being refined as they pull into the station. You'll have to do some hacking while it all gets organized and polished up. end of train analogy. thank you for participating and have a great trip. phew. sorry everyone. hth A
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