testing is for actually testing. unstable is for users who want the bleeding edge

Posted Aug 22, 2025 3:14 UTC (Fri) by pabs (subscriber, #43278)
In reply to: testing is for actually testing. unstable is for users who want the bleeding edge by alx.manpages
Parent article: Lucky 13: a look at Debian trixie

You can install most unstable packages on testing, and using pinning and a script, auto-install security updates from unstable on testing:

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting#Best_practices_for_...

I have been using this setup for years, it works great.

testing is for actually testing. unstable is for users who want the bleeding edge

Posted Aug 22, 2025 7:19 UTC (Fri) by alx.manpages (subscriber, #145117) [Link]

Sounds good! However, I think that qualifies as an expert installation.

Recommending testing over unstable, saying that testing is for the bleeding edge and unstable is for the adventurous, that's at least a dangerous recommendation.

Such a recommendation would need to come with a disclosure that unstable is safer (even if it might crash more often) and explains how to deal with the security issues in testing.