> From: Brad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> On Sat, 31 Jul 1999, Daniel Barclay wrote: > > > > From: Brad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > .. > > > That's the choice Debian offers: a rock-solid system with _slightly_ > > > out-of-date software (although you're free to upgrade it), or a > > > state-of-the-art system with all the bugs inherent in the bleeding edge. > > > > But why not build the latest-and-greatest version of add-on packages > > against BOTH the stable and the latest-and-greatest unstable > > distribution? > > > > Then later versions of software (even if they're not long-tested > > and stable) could be run on the stable distribution. > > Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a stable distribution? Not at all. I don't know how you misunderstood. The stable distribution would be the same as it is (e.g., with an older glibc and other base system files, and applications). The unstable distribution would be the same as it is (with new version of everything). The addition would be new versions of packages compiled against core libraries in the stable distribution (instead of against the unstable distribution). Then instead of having two choices, everything stable but aged, or everything new but unstable, one could try current (even if unstable) versions of a few packages without having to upgrade the ENTIRE system to unstable. > If you want the > latest, go with unstable, that's what it's there for .... No, it's there to provide the latest _whole system_. > ..Or if you want > to mix and match, feel free to grab the debian sources and build the > packages yourself. Yeah, that's something I need to learn to do. > > Note that that's what various other sites (Gnome, someone's KDE site, > > etc.) provide--recent individual software that doesn't require > > the more recent, unstable distribution. > > That's their perrogative. Look, do you people want Debian to be used or not? Do you know how many references I've seen recently that mention that Debian is farther behind (in versions of packages available) than other distributions? Daniel