Re: Stupid Noob Question: Surfing the 'Testing' edge

[Nigel Henry <cave.dnb@tiscali.fr>]

On Wednesday 14 February 2007 17:36, Michael S. Peek wrote:
> Hi Debian gurus,
>
> I jumped aboard the Debian bandwagon mid-Sarge, and so that's the
> version of Debian that our machines are currently running.  As Etch
> nears it's completion I've been preparing for the upgrade from Sarge to
> Etch.  Since I'm still pretty new to Debian, I'm a little iffy when it
> comes to understanding parts of the the Sarge=stable, Etch=testing,
> Sid=unstable implementation behind Debian development.  Specifically,
> I've seen several warnings now about making sure to change "testing" to
> "etch" in /etc/apt/sources.lst once Etch goes stable.  (For testing
> purposes I've just always left it "etch".)  But what if what I want is
> to keep our machines at "testing"?  It seems to have the latest and
> grooviest versions of stuff. So how badly would I be shooting myself in
> the foot if I changed "etch" to "testing" in /etc/apt/sources.lst and
> just left it that way?
>
> Michael

Personally, if you have sufficient harddrive space, I'd keep your current Etch 
install pointing to Etch in /etc/apt/sources.list. then I would install 
another instance of Etch. I'd keep this pointing to Etch, then when Etch goes 
stable I'd point /etc/apt/sources.list for your new Etch install to the 
testing repo. this way you have one install which you know works ok, and the 
new Etch, now testing/Lenny install.

 I've had no real problems with my Etch/upgraded from Sarge install. From time 
to time some packages have been removed when doing an apt-get dist-upgrade. I 
lost Rosegarden4 for about 6 weeks, then it came back as available.

If you have the harddrive space, doing it this way, at least you have a distro 
you know works, and your new install of Etch that you have pointed to the 
testing repo can be viewed as a bit experimental. This way, if for some 
reason Lenny goes seriously pearshaped, you can boot into your stable Etch.

As I say, I've had no serious problems, apart from losing some packages for a 
while.

my 2¢ worth

Nigel.