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A constantly usable testing distribution for Debian

A constantly usable testing distribution for Debian

Posted Sep 30, 2010 18:19 UTC (Thu) by ummmwhat (guest, #54087)
Parent article: A constantly usable testing distribution for Debian

Finally!
I'm not sure how it took 17 years to realize this obvious need (perhaps even the most basic one!).

I think it's simply silly that Windows users can just download new software, while Linux users doing distribution updates (which is what they are supposed to do) have to wait up to 6 months for new software.

The solution is simple: try to trust upstreams.
If upstream releases a new stable version, then assume it's a _stable_ version and thus _immediately_ include it as an update to the stable distribution.

If any upstream is caught releasing "stable" releases that are not suitable for being updates to stable distributions, then _complain_ to upstream loudly, _help_ them get better QA polices, and delay their updates as is done now until the process issues are fixed.

For security updates, it's also simple: just use the update provided by the upstream.
If upstream refuses to release a stable version with the security update, complain, help and delay updates as above.

In other words, just stop attempting to duplicate stabilization work in every distro by forking all packages, and instead tell the problems upstream and help them make better releases.


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A constantly usable testing distribution for Debian

Posted Oct 5, 2010 13:31 UTC (Tue) by BackSeat (guest, #1886) [Link]

If upstream releases a new stable version, then assume it's a _stable_ version and thus _immediately_ include it as an update to the stable distribution.

The reason we run Debian Stable on a large number of servers is precisely because Debian does not make such assumptions.

That sort of thing may be OK for a desktop distribution, but when running customer critical applications on a server in a data centre, stability and security are far more important than "the latest version".


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