Re: How to update Debian 11 source.list to testing?
On Fri, Sep 03, 2021 at 10:17:21AM -0400, Roberto C. Sánchez wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 03, 2021 at 04:11:49PM +0200, Richard Forst wrote:
> > I just installed Debian using netinstall image. I thought I install testing version, but apparently it's Debian 11. So now my source.list looks like below:
> >
> > deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main non-free contrib
> > deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main non-free contrib
> >
> > deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free
> > deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free
> >
> > deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
> > deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
> >
> > I want to switch to testing version. In the past I just change the keyword from e.g. bullseye to testing, and generally there is no weird problem. But I read on the internet saying that the source.list should not mix up with different version. For instance, Debian 11 with testing. So I am wondering if there is a better way to switch to testing? Or reinstalling is the only way to go?
> >
> If you change all instances of bullseye -> testing, then you are not
> mixing. Go ahead with that, modulo the standard caveats associated with
> running testing. The problem would come if you tried to include both
> bullseye *and* testing sources in your sources.list. Then you might
> create very difficult to resolve problems.
>
> You might consider using bookwork rather than testing, however. That is
> the name of the testing release and unless you specifically want to
> continue tracking testing even after bookwork is released, it is
> probably better for most use cases to use the specific release code name
> rather than stable or testing.
>
> Regards,
>
> -Roberto
>
> --
> Roberto C. Sánchez
>
Small thing: the release that should eventually become Debian 12 - that is
currently also referred to as testing is bookworm NOT bookwork.
Given that even the CD release team were consistently mistyping it - and
mental autocorrect will change it automatically - that's unsurprising.
In general: referring to current/future releases by codeword is a good
thing - it does keep you consistent.
Mixing releases is having concurrent lines for stable AND testing in the
same file (also testing and unstable). It's not a real sin, but you have to
know which bits come from where and how to resolve breakages. With the
passing of time, you're more or less guaranteed to be running testing in
that scenario anyway.
https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian is relevant here to most people
who would want to install a random .deb from a third party vendor or
random website.
All the very best, as ever,
Andy Cater
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