I know I am in for an argument, but I think it is a good question. I'm sure many of you have read Mark's blog: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/56. It says 76% of Debian users run unstable and probably a fair fraction of the rest run testing.
Isn't it a cause of stress trying to cram for the freeze?
Haven't we seen emails about how we are behind the RC goals for
Etch which causes frustration? All the questions: is this or that going
in Etch, why not? (I have been resposible for some of these)
I think we all really love running unstable. It is very fun
because it is exciting and sometimes unpredictible. Debian, in my
opinion, appeals to an ambitiuos crowd who is willing to take risks and
is not afraid to explore the inner workings of a linux system. Such a
crowd, I believe, would prefere running unstable or testing and not a
system that contains packages that can be over a year old.
I think Debian (I maintain a couple packages too, and hopefully more in
the future, so I am not just trying to tell those who work what to do)
should consider only supporting unstable and testing for a few reasons:
1. Those who maintain Debian love unstable. It is the OS that offers the
most freedom. Maintaining a Stable and Oldstable seem to distract from the
focus of an ever evolving Unstable. I have an email from a developer I
will not name that says he/she is not looking forward to having to
maintain multiple versions of the same package in several different
Debian snapshots when he/she could be worrying about one.
2. Testing would be a better distro. The time and effort that goes
into Freezing, maintaining Stable and Oldstable, could be pulled into
making testing a better distro for those who want new software, without
the risk of running Unstable. Those who enjoy trying to live on the
bleeding edge, who don't want to bleed to death.
3. The freeze seems to cause more stress then happiness.
4. Let's face it, it does both Debian and Desktop users who want a
constantly updating, "Easy as Windows to use", stable distro a favor to
send them to Ubuntu. Debian will stop getting harassed how Ubuntu's
stable is so much nicer for users then Debian's. On the other, it does
them a favor to go where life is made easier for them. (I am not saying
Ubuntu stable is better then Debian's Stable, just the type of users who
like a "training wheels" distro that has stable updates every 6 months
is never going to be happy with Debian's Stable and Debian could do
better off not having them harassing Debian over everything they like or
dislike) Send them to Ubuntu, and let them come back when they want to
run an Unstable style system. Very, very few Ubuntu users run their
"Unstable" snapshot. Those types of people should be sent here.
Joseph Smidt
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