On Tue, Jun 06, 2006 at 09:51:48PM -0400, cga2000 wrote: >> I will assume that you, as a relatively new Debian user, are running >> stable (sarge). > >Yes. But the main reason is that I am a new Debian user on a laptop :-(
I have taken the middle path with Debian, and use testing. This gives me newer software with security updates, without the rapid change and general wobbliness of unstable. I wanted vim 7.0 though, and I got it from unstable - it works fine, and I have been doing this for new software for 5 years without anything upsetting happening. Here's what I did to get vim 7.0: # vim /etc/apt/sources.list :%s/testing/unstable/g :wq # apt-get update # apt-get install vim-full # vim /etc/apt/sources.list :%s/unstable/testing/g :wq # apt-get update I don't mess with pinning or anything tricky - I just let some packages get a head start. Eventually they are included and upgraded in testing, and then my regular updates pick them up and move them forward. Something to note with this approach is that it will overwrite your vim 6.4 installation. That was the result I wanted, and so I am unconcerned - I know that I can simply do an "apt-get remove vim-full;apt-get install vim-full" with my usual setup (with testing as my version) and I'll be back at 6.4 in a trice, with all of my configs where I expect them. Now, to be clear, this doesn't work if you are tracking stable for getting vim 7.0 - it is a bit too far behind unstable. For a laptop (for my laptop, actually) I recommend running testing, because you can keep more up to date but you are not working your expensive machine too much with custom compiling or package churn. I understand your reticence about doing things you don't understand, and I am not trying to pressure you into upgrading your OS :-) I just want you (and others who may read the archives or lurk) to know how I overcame my conflict between a stable system and the latest and greatest vim. -- yours, William
