On 20140321_194133, Steve Litt of Troubleshooters.Com wrote: > On Fri, 21 Mar 2014 16:38:25 -0600 > Paul E Condon <pecon...@mesanetworks.net> wrote: > > > Over the years since Potato, I have noticed that while each new <snip> > > exists. > > I've noticed this too. I always need to struggle, navigate and wander to > download the right ISO image. If I ever wanted to install > Debian Testing (which I don't), I have no idea how to do > that. Occasionally I don't know I downloaded the wrong image until I > boot the DVD made with it.
Debian has a tradition of valuing highly the idea of never having to do a complete new install in order to move to the next release. The name for this feature has drifted about but is currently 'dist-upgrade'. To move to Jessie from Wheezy, one follows a sequence of steps that prepares wheezy for dist-upgrade, then edits one's sources.list to replace every occurrence of 'wheezy' with 'jessie', then actually doing dist-upgrade using apt-get, aptitude, or whatever.... This drill, in the hands of a skilled user, can be executed very quickly, but ... in practice, for me ... not so much. I don't claim to be skilled. > My other Debian confusion is all the program sources and how to > enable/disable them. I know of no web page that explains the whats, My approach is: Every uncommented line in sources.list calls out a repository, (primary, or mirrored) that is searched for packages. If you don't want to search a particular repository, don't include it, or comment it. During a dist-upgrade one needs only lines for the new release, being installed. Searching for old release packages is a waste of time and compute cycles. The details drift over time as the internet changes, and grows. > where's and why's of this. Fortunately, I'm in several LUGs with > Debian-knowledgeable people, so if I get in a bind, I can get help. > > Some time, after I truly understand the ins and outs of Debian > versions, downloads, backports, and the like, I'll write a document to > explain it, clearly, in one place, for the new Debian user. I sense that there is a lot of diversity of opinion about the details. I think you will find it hard to satisfy holders of all opinions, but it is a worthy goal, IMHO. Cheers, -- Paul E Condon pecon...@mesanetworks.net -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/20140322163129.ga11...@big.lan.gnu
