On Sat, Jul 23, 2005 at 12:22:05AM +0100, Philip Radford wrote: > Hi All, > > Are the packages from Etch available to be installed on a Sarge installation. > I may be getting myself confused as there is also reference to Sid which may > or may not be Etch before it is officially made stable. > > Can anybody clarify this for me. > > Many thanks. > > Regards > Phil >
This is not an official response to the question. A few weeks ago, Sarge was officially released as the new stable version of Debian. At that moment, Sarge and Etch were de facto identical. Any package that was valid for Sarge was also valid for Etch. But Sarge is stable. That means that it does not change unless there is a recently discovered security issue that can be fixed with a patch to a few packages. And Etch is testing. That means that it does change as new versions of packages become available and are included. The whole process is gradual, but over time, the two will become less and less similar. But both will be Debian. And, no matter what happens to Etch, it will be possible to upgrade from Sarge to Etch by using apt-get dist-upgrade. If the developers discover that they have wandered into a corner where this is not possible, there will be a LOT OF NOISE AND SHOUTING. You will know about it. No one can know the future, but within that constaint, Debian trys to make the transition from one distribution smooth and gradual. And the underlying reality of the Debian system makes that realistically possible. So, think what is it that you are worried about? Etch will eventually become the official stable version of Debian. Before this happens, you may wish to use some packages from Etch. How badly do you want them? Badly enough to help debug them? How much pain are you willing to endure? How much pain will you have to endure? It depends on which packages you want and what is your threshold of pain. I guess that nothing about using Etch will be life threatening. So go for it. -- Paul E Condon [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
