the snapshots way

[Mihai Popescu B.S.]

Hello,

Since the applications packages are not updated anymore for -release / 
-stable I decided to follow the snapshots. I know that this way is for 
experienced users and I'm not as good as a developer but I need to stay 
with this. The FAQ is not so rich in answers for this section. The other 
option is to follow -current, but as I see one must sync the source from 
a CVS server and then recompile periodically. I want to let this step 
for later to follow.

For all those who follow somehow the snapshots, I want to ask a few 
questions I stumbled upon:

1. Sometimes, the files present on the snapshots/i386 don't have all the 
same date/time, usually the "kernel" files differs from X files - is it 
fine to mix different compile files ? Does it mean that X files are not 
affected by kernel & other stuff new modifications ?

2. Saying that I have some "snapshot" installed and a new package or an 
update for the package is added on ftp - is it safe to install it on the 
existing snapshot (assuming that the ftp snapshot was already renewed ) ?

3. I'm trying to establish a rule on how often I need to reinstall the 
new snapshot, can you give some advices ?

Thanks