On Wed, 8 Oct 1997, Bob wrote: > I recently add X to my debian box. My debian version still shows 1.3 > > Shouldn't this now read 1.3.1?? > > Bob
I think it's a Debian policy not to "publicize" the patch level of the version. (My /etc/issue, and /etc/issue.net files all report 1.3 as well, and reported simply 1.1 and 1.2 when I ran those -- 0.93R6 didn't have any patches). This is possibly because one of the few events that causes a patch to the stable version is the discovery and patching of security holes. If someone can easily determine from your machine what version you're running, he/she may be able to make deductions about the security vulnerabilities of your machine. On the other hand, it may just be because /etc/issue and /etc/issue.net are contained in the base-files and netstd packages respectively, and to keep up with patches, it would be necessary to re-release those two packages every time. Come to think of it, that reason is more likely than the security one (since real crackers would test your system for exploitability regardless of what your issue files said). -- G. Branden Robinson | A committee is a life form with six or Purdue University | more legs and no brain. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | -- Robert Heinlein http://www.ecn.purdue.edu/~branden/ | -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
