(Random Debian user who has used unstable/Sid - sharing my 2c)
Hi Dan, On 11/12/23 20:40, Tianyu Chen wrote:
On Mon, 11 Dec 2023 15:22:24 +0800 Dan Jacobson <[email protected]> wrote:Today I out of habit hit RET to the following. It removed much of my system. https://www.reddit.com/r/Crostini/comments/alytbc/comment/kcv98ks/ Next time I'll be more careful and not trust it. I didn't realize how long the list was when I hit RET. Maybe there should be a second question if the removal list is longerthan 20 packages. You're using unstable, so you should be more careful with your actions, especially full-upgrade. If I guessed it right, the reason caused this is the ongoing transition of python3.12.
Further to Tianyu's note re running unstable, I highly recommend NEVER blindly doing a 'full-upgrade' when running Sid!
This[1] seems like a pretty solid workflow giving you the least chance of issues.
[1] https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?p=633248#p633248I ran Sid for a few years myself and there were a number of times that I had to pin specific packages to stop breakages (while upgrading as much as I could). Removal of important packages/tools/dependencies that would lead to a broken state weren't uncommon in my experience.
Whilst I suspect that you could create an apt hook to do what you want (i.e. fail/warn if more than x packages are being removed), that still won't avoid potential issues. It's not uncommon for packages and their dependencies to uploaded at different times - which will cause issues, e.g.[2].
[2] https://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=153857If you want to be able to run updates blindly without worrying about breakages, just use stable. Issues are still possible, just much less likely; and when they do occur, almost always less severe (tend to be annoying bugs, rather than show stoppers).
I moved back to stable during Bookworm because the cost/benefit of running Sid just didn't add up for me (I didn't really need all the newer packages, just a few - that I now update via other methods).
If you want to have bleeding edge packages, use Sid - but very carefully! If you're not attached to Debian, then a "proper" rolling release - that is rolling by design (e.g. Arch) might be a better option for you?
Also, this mail list is used for tracking aptitude bugs, not for user support.
Apologies on the noise... Cheers, Jeremy
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