[Sussex] Sarge...

[Steve Dobson]

Colin, and all Debian users

On Fri, Jun 10, 2005 at 07:46:16AM +0100, Colin Tuckley wrote:
> Steve Dobson wrote:
> > or if you want FTP access (which I use):
> > deb ftp://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ testing main
> 
> I think now that sarge is stable you mean:
> 
> deb ftp://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ stable main

No I meant to reference sarge by name.  If you use the pseudo names
"stable" and "testing" then you are letting someone else decided
when you upgrade.

If you're running Debian on a system that has Internet access you
should regularly be doing updates to pull any security patches.
If you use the "stable" reference then that "apt-get upgrade" you
did last night would have half upgraded your system.

"apt-get upgrade" will only upgrade those packages to which there
are newer versions; it doesn't install any new packages.
"apt-get dist-upgrade" will upgrade all packages, including the
ones that have new dependences on packages not installed by
installing them too.

There are good reasons not to take all your systems to new software 
as soon as it is released.  I would recommend only upgrading one
system, and running it for a while to see if there are any problems.
Just because Debian is well tested doesn't mean that they have found
all the bugs and fixed them.  You still need to test for your
environment.

I would recommend to everyone using Debian to use named versions 
rather than the pseudo names.  It just gives you control over when
you upgrade.  Of course if your still using Woody then you need to
be aware that support of that is now being phased out.  You have some
months to upgrade, but at lease you can pick the that time to suit
yourself.

Steve

P.S.
Note: the above advice is for those of you with systems connected 
to the Internet.  With such systems it is important to keep them 
patched and up to date for security reasons.  If your network of
Debian systems is isolated, then my above advice may not be as
appropriate.

-- 
The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look
respectable.
		-- John Kenneth Galbraith
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