Re: Sid/Unstable
On Thu, Nov 08, 2007 at 07:52:15PM -0800, Jeff Grossman wrote:
> I know this question is going to get a variety of answers, but I would
> like to get everybody's opinion. I am currently running Testing with a
> few packages from Sid. I just moved to Debian a few weeks ago. I am
> running Debian as a home server which handles a website, e-mail server,
> samba server, a few other small server applications. I am really the
> only user except for e-mail, I have about 4 users total on the system.
> More than anything running Linux is a complete learning experience for
> me. I have noticed that it takes at least 10 days, if not more, to get
> updated packages from unstable to testing. How dangerous would it be
> for me to move completely to unstable? Has anybody completely trashed
> their system by running unstable? I like to live on the cutting edge,
> but I also don't want my machine to completely die where it won't boot
> up anymore.
>
> Thanks in advance for your comments.
You really have to understand how debian works and be able to fix things
when they break (or wait with a broken system untill things get fixed),
perhaps reverting to earlier versions, etc, when you run Sid.
If you've only been running Debian for a few weeks and "running Linux is
a complete learning experience for me", then it may not be safe.
Also, it depends on how secure you want your home server to be.
Remember that Sid really is unstable and there are probably security
holes in it. When a package in Sid has not been changed for (I think)
10 days, then it automatically moves to Testing (Lenny right now). The
reason something isn't percolating down to Lenny is that bugs keep
getting found and fixed (and perhaps more created).
Answer these questions in order:
Why is Stable (Etch) not appropriate for what you are doing?
Why is Testing (Lenny) not appropriate for what you are doing?
Can you tolerate the instability and vulnerabilities in Unstable (Sid)?
Doug.
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