On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:45:23 -0700 Michael Moore <moore.michae...@gmail.com> dijo:
> > I am a bit concerned about what Rogan said about Debian. I do want > > something reasonably up to date on the tech curve, but the name > > "testing" is a turn-off. But then, it is just going to be a one-week > > experiment. > > The testing branch of Debian is, generally, more stable -- and > sometimes, more up-to-date -- than the latest Ubuntu release. > (Remember that Ubuntu takes Debian's *unstable* branch, freezes it, > tweaks it, and releases it.) New or updated packages enter Debian's > experimental or unstable branch, stay there for at least 10 days, then > migrate to the testing branch if and only if they aren't causing any > problems in unstable. Sometimes it might be longer than 10 days, > depending upon the size or complexity of the package(s). If a problem > arises, a package doesn't migrate to testing. At any given time, > there are lots and lots of packages in testing and unstable that are > at the same version number; there are lots of others with newer > versions in unstable than in testing. > > At some point in the process, the Debian powers-that-be decide to get > ready for a release, so they freeze the testing branch and begin > fixing release-critical bugs and any other bugs they can. This > process can be aggravatingly slow. During this time, very few > packages migrate from unstable to testing. Eventually, testing is > transformed from "testing" to "stable" and released. Whatever was > "stable" becomes "old-stable." At the same time, a new testing branch > is created and named, and the whole process starts anew. The most > volatile period of the testing branch is right after a new release, > because a slew of packages (all those packages that had been held back > during the freeze) suddenly land in the "new" testing from unstable, > and that almost always causes some problems for various users, > depending upon what packages they're using. Other than that, the > testing branch is usually pretty reliable. There might be minor > glitches from time to time with certain packages (or the interactions > between certain packages), but nothing worse than users of Ubuntu or > other Debian-based distros encounter. IIRC, it has been more than > three or four years since a major bug got into the testing branch that > rendered it crippled for most users. Thanks very much for the clarification about Debian versions. I read all of the Debian pages, but couldn't get my head around the differences. Your explanation makes it much clearer. After considering it all, testing is what I want. I note there is a net install. I don't completely trust my net connection. It's fast, but sometimes Comcast throws me a curve. I'd much rather download an ISO via torrent, even if it's several CDs or DVDs. I'm in no rush. But I can't find the 64-bit ISO to download. For some reason I find Debian's web pages very confusing to navigate. I guess that's not a good omen, huh? _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
