>> > DO NOT USE "stable" IN YOUR sources.list FILE! >> And this is because... ? > Because a full release upgrade is a process that requires planning and > execution with intent. There are many steps to follow, in order to > maximize the chances of it actually working, and not breaking your > system. > > It is not something that can be done automatically. > > It is not something that you ever want to happen by *surprise*.
Even if you use `stable` in your `source.list` and `apt.conf` files, the upgrade won't happen by surprise: you get prompted (during `apt update`) about the fact that `stable` has changed name (and this prompt can even be repeated a few times, I think it's once each for those of `stable-security`, `main`, `contrib`, `non-free`, `non-free-firmware` you have in your `sources.list`). > If you use the "stable" label in your source.list file, and if you also > use automatic upgrades, there is an extremely high chance that your > system will perform a *partial* release upgrade at some random time when > you are not expecting it, and that this will leave your system in a > bad state. Until you accept the change `apt update` won't even fetch the new package info, so there should be no automatic upgrade (not even partial), AFAICT. Stefan