On 05/06/2017 04:55 PM, RavenLX wrote: > I am thinking about trying out Stretch (Debian 9) in either a spare > laptop or a virtual machine. If I like it I might just point my sources > list to that repo on both laptops if it's stable enough. > I can't speak categorically, but In installed Stretch a couple of months ago on my older laptop. It has been running without a hitch 24/7 since then. > My question is, once it's "frozen", how stable is it or is it still > pretty much not suitable for production yet?
The word 'stable' doesn't refer to the stability of the installed system vis-a-vis system crashes, etc. It refers to the packages and versions in the repositories for the distribution. It is stable in that the packages currently part of the release 9 distribution are/will be the packages available at the versions currently in the repositories. It is frozen in the sense that no new packages/version upgrades will be admitted to the Stretch distribution. Patches may still be made to fix security issues and serious bugs. During this time between freezing the distribution and its actual release as the 'stable' distribution it is thoroughly tested to make sure everything works and the various packages talk to each other they way they should. In effect, Stretch is under beta testing. Usually, by the time Stretch reaches the 'frozen' stage, most of the major issues have been worked out, and it is reasonably ready for production. However, they may still be a few problems to be worked out...it is a beta after all. I also use a couple > programs from outside ppas (*gulp!* :-O) and am taking into > consideration conflicts with those as well. They do work great with the > current stable. I use out of distribution packages on occasion as well. However, there is no guarantee that such packages will work or continue to work under the new distribution, even after it is released as Debian Stable. Having said that, if they worked under Debian 8, they may well work under Debian 9. Keep in mind, however, the libraries available with Debian 9 will in many cases be new and updated versions, and may not be the same as the ones used by the out of distribution packages. So there may be some compatibility issues. (Issues I did have with one of the out-of-distribution packages I use.) Give it a try. If it works for you great. If you have problems, especially with packages/libraries within the distribution, report them so that they can be addressed and fixed. That kind of input is important in getting the Stretch distribution through the process to the Stable distribution. -- 73's, WB5VQX -- The Very Quick X-ray
