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Debian sarge release updateDebian sarge release updatePosted Jun 1, 2005 8:07 UTC (Wed) by hensema (guest, #980)In reply to: Debian sarge release update by njhurst Parent article: Debian sarge release update
You've missed some versions and you've mixed up two families.
However, you also missed the midlife upgrades called service packs. A service pack is essentially a new dot release, so we're now in the third revision of Windows XP. We're still in the first revision of Debian 3 (not counting the small bugfix releases).
Also, when Windows is released, the software is fresh and new (essentially because no one has ever seen the software due to the closed development, I know). Debian releases old software.
Microsoft supports Windows with security updates for far longer than any Linux distributor, including Debian. And also including the Enterprise products of Redhat and Novell, I think (not sure).
I'm not meaning to troll here, but please do know what you're talking about. Debian completely disregards the fact that software ages quickly in the Linux world. Or do you really believe Spamassassin 2.20 is very useful software? It may be stable, it may be bugfree, but it certainly is extremely outdated.
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Debian sarge release update Posted Jun 2, 2005 8:17 UTC (Thu) by amacater (subscriber, #790) [Link] Debian Stable is intended to be stable. The new release has been threeyears in the making - and in the testing. The previous release will be supported for a further year - that will make four years in all. The latest security update 3.0r6 occurred today. It's anticipated that Sarge, when released, will be the stable release for a couple of years. If you want more up to date software, you can use the "testing" branch, which now has security support or even the "unstable" branch (always codenamed Sid). Given 16,000 packages and 11 architectures and a volunteer workforce - and the ease of moving from "old" stable to "new" stable, I think Debian compares pretty well to say, moving from Red Hat Enterprise 3 to Red Hat Enterprise 4 (which are less than two years apart) but appears to require a full reinstall. The new Debian installer may default to kernel 2.4 on some architectures if you just hit the enter key - if you type linux26, it will install with kernel 2.6 out of the box. An install of a system running Sarge and cloning of another system with several thousand packages installed took me about 45 minutes the other day: one reboot was necessary. [Disclaimer: I am a Debian developer - I am not speaking here on behalf of the Debian project]
Debian sarge release update Posted Jun 2, 2005 8:21 UTC (Thu) by kleptog (subscriber, #1183) [Link] On the other hand, you seem to be assuming that since it's only a small version number change that only small changes have been made. That's wrong, nearly everything has changed.
For me, I glad Debian has long release cycles, it means that I don't have to upgrade my system continuously just to get something stable. For work it's important to have something that never ever crashes.
As you say, there are a handful of programs like spamassassain which could see more frequent updates compared to the normal, and that is being addressed. But 99% of programs don't obsolete that fast. Many of the GNU tools are 20 years old yet they're used by everyone all the time. Apache 1 is old but the standards havn't changed and it works just as well now as it did three years ago.
Finally, the task of a distribution (in my eyes) is to provide a network of packages from which I can install and maintain a system with complete confidence. For servers, three year old webservers are not "obsolete". Even on Windows many people are sticking with older versions.
If you want a desktop you don't run stable anyway, you use testing or unstable since you'll actually be in front of the machine when it crashes.
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