Version misconception?
Hi,
I've been corresponding with Martin Sjögren, one of
your Debian-install developers, about a negative
experience---and a general misconception about Debian
that may be important.
Before I downloaded Debian, I read as much as I could
about it, in books and on the Net. I learned about the
three versions: Stable, Testing, and Unstable. Which
version should I install? These are the impressions I
read in website reviews, in forums, and in newsgroups:
_ Stable has older packages. (Some people even
referred to it as "old" or "boring.") It's fine if
you're running a server, but otherwise you should use
Testing or Unstable.
_ Don't worry about Testing or Unstable---because
it's Debian, they're at least as stable as other
distros' normal versions.
I now know that the right way is to install Stable,
then upgrade (selectively, or apt-pin). But nowhere
did I see that explained, not even on Debian.org.
So I downloaded Sarge and tried to install it. I
couldn't understand why the install program was so
different from the manual. I'm pretty
computer-literate, but I ended up trashing all of my
partitions and giving up. That's when I wrote to
Martin.
Martin replied, "Didn't you read this?", and pointed
me to your network-install page
(http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst), which said this
about Testing:
> The images are only intended for testing the
> new installer for sarge. The installer is
> still under development, so the installation
> may fail.
Unfortunately, I hadn't seen it, because I didn't do a
network install. I downloaded ISOs. I had followed the
links to your normal "Downloading Debian CD images"
page (http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp), which said
only this:
> Unofficial CD images of the "testing" and
> "unstable" distributions...
> Currently, the folks at fsn.hu produce weekly
> unofficial snapshots of the "testing"
> distribution - many thanks! These images are
> mirrored at various places...
Martin also said, "We assume that people understand
that they should use only *released* versions."
I pointed out that the "Debian Releases" page
(http://www.debian.org/releases) says (I've added the
asterisks):
> Debian always has at least three *releases*
> in active maintenance: ``stable'', ``testing''
> and ``unstable''...
It goes on to say:
> The ``testing'' distribution contains packages
> that haven't been accepted into a ``stable''
> release yet, but they are in the queue for
> that. The main advantage of using this
> distribution is that it has more recent
> versions of software, and the main disadvantage
> is that it's not completely tested and has no
> official support from Debian security team...
Again, nothing to indicate there's anything different
about installing Testing, and no recommendations that
newbies should stick with Stable. (The same
information is in the Debian FAQ.)
On Debian.org, don't you think you should include a
clearer explanation that Testing (and certainly,
Unstable) is for experienced Debian users only? I
would also start posting that around the Net---because
most people don't understand.
I'm just concerned that first-time Debian (or Linux!)
users are getting the same ideas I did, downloading
Testing, and having bad experiences.
By the way, I've reinstalled Debian (the right way),
and it's awesome. :?)
Cheers, Andy
=====
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com
Reply to: