Hello world, I am pleased to announce the very first unofficial Debian monthly testing snapshot release candidate (version 2011.03rc1). This release is currently available in two flavors, i386 and amd64, as mini iso images (16 MiB each) downloadable from: http://alioth.debian.org/~gilbert-guest/snapshots/debian-testing-snapshot-2011.03rc1-i386-mini.iso http://alioth.debian.org/~gilbert-guest/snapshots/debian-testing-snapshot-2011.03rc1-amd64-mini.iso
These files can be written to CD or DVD media or directly to a USB stick. Instructions for USB installation can be found here: http://www.debian.org/releases/squeeze/i386/ch04s03.html.en The testing period will be 5 days, and if no showstoppers are found in that time frame, this will be the 2011.03 final release, which is currently targeted for March 6th. Since this is not a stable release, a much reduced subset of bugs will be considered showstopping (a different criteria than stable's release critical bugs). These only include: 1. Failure to install from scratch using default/common options 2. Failure to boot into a graphical environment There may be more criteria identified in the future. If you think an issue qualifies as a showstopping bug, please send a message to cut-t...@lists.alioth.debian.org, and we will determine whether it is worth delaying the release. If showstopper bugs are indeed found, then the previous month's nightly generated media will be bisected to find the one prior to introduction of the bug. That will be the second release candidate, and there will be another announcement and 5 day testing period for that. Note that these monthly snapshot releases will be guaranteed to be upgradable (all new releases will have >= package versions compared to the previous release). However, there is no guarantee that there won't be breakages or regressions in particular packages between upgrades. This may be somewhat solvable via automated piuparts upgrade testing in the future. This will need someone interested to work on this particular problem. IMPORTANT: release candidates will not necessarily be upgradable since subsequent versions may include packages that are older than those in the previous version. Please consider this carefully before installing from release candidate media on important machines. Note also that there will be no inherent security support for these snapshot releases. The images do automatically set up testing-security as an apt source during installation, so any DTSA's (Debian Testing Security Advisories) will be automatically applied to snapshot installations. However, the security team does not issue many updates this way anymore (optioning instead to primarily use unstable uploads as a means to fix testing). This is another area that could potentially be improved if there are volunteers interested in this problem. For more information on current testing security processes, see: http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/secure-testing/doc/narrative_introduction Ideally for those wishing to have a mostly security supported system, the snapshot media will simply be a reliable stepping stone for installation followed by an upgrade to testing proper, which does receive quasi-official support from the security team (i.e. uploads to unstable that transition to testing). Note that this is an unofficial project since it does not come with the backing or support from Debian as a team, but hopefully that will change in the future as the concept is proven out. This message is being limited only to the debian-devel list to (hopefully) keep the load on existing resources small for now, and to determine whether a more robust hosting solution will be necessary for future releases. This also provides a chance for feedback and contributions from the devel community before attempting to target a wider audience. Please keep in mind that this is an unofficial test/development release before spreading the word too much. Anyway, enjoy! And send feedback to cut-t...@lists.alioth.debian.org. Best wishes, Mike Gilbert -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110228233607.51da8370.michael.s.gilb...@gmail.com
