Guy Maor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > There are other reasons to put something in experimental besides a > potential for grave damage. You could certainly put every > incompatible change into experimental before putting it in unstable. > Most people won't even try them, and the ftp administrators will get > irritated at you. Use your judgement.
FYI, I've changed the wording a bit, it now reads as you see below. -- .....Adam Di [EMAIL PROTECTED]<URL:http://www.onShore.com/> The _experimental_ distribution is a specialty distribution. It is not a full distribution in the same sense that `stable' and `unstable' are. Instead, it is meant to be a temporary staging area for highly experimental software where there's a good chance that the software could break your system. Users who download and install packages from _experimental_ are expected to have been duly warned. In short, all bets are off for the _experimental_ distribution. Developers should be very selective in the use of the _experimental_ distribution. Even if a package is highly unstable, it could well still go into _unstable_; just state a few warnings in the description. However, if there is a chance that the software could do grave damage to a system, it might be better to put it into _experimental_. For instance, an experimental encrypted file system should probably go into _experimental_. A new, beta, version of some software which uses completely different configuration might go into _experimental_ at the maintainer's discretion. New software which isn't likely to damage your system can go into _unstable_. If you are working on an incompatible or complex upgrade situation, you can also use _experimental_ as a staging area, so that testers can get early access. However, using _experimental_ as a personal staging area is not always the best idea. You can't replace or upgrade the files in there on your own (`dinstall' and the Debian archive maintainers do that). Additionally, you'll have to remember to ask the archive maintainers to delete the package one you have uploaded it to _unstable_. Using your personal web space on `va.debian.org' is generally a better idea, so that you put less strain on the Debian archive maintainers.
