On Wed, Dec 11, 2002 at 02:21:54AM +1100, Andrew Bennetts wrote: > On Wed, Dec 11, 2002 at 01:57:15AM +1100, Anand Kumria wrote: > > On Tue, Dec 10, 2002 at 05:04:43PM +1100, Jeff Waugh wrote: > > > <quote who="Jeff Waugh"> > > > > > > (A good example is the GNOME 2.0 stuff in sid at the moment. They're meant > > > to be shipping GNOME 2.0.x, > > > > Why not the actualy "not fit for release ... yet" stuff? > > My layperson's understanding is that *Debian* is testing their distribution, > not the upstream software. The aim of Debian stable is to be stable, which > probably means using designated stable releases of upstream software in most > cases. The aim of Debian testing and Debian unstable is to prepare and test > the next release of Debian stable -- and so there wouldn't be much point > putting bleeding edge stuff in unstable and testing that, unless that > bleeding edge was destined for the next Debian stable release. > > Basically the difference seems to me that Debian unstable is for developing > the next version of Debian, but something like GNOME unstable is for > developing the next version of GNOME.
Andrew, The transition from unstable to testing is (mostly) automatic. Once software has survived enough testing in "unstable" it is moved to "testing" for further testing. After a much longer period of time snapshots of "testing" are made into "stable". Maintainers who have upstream, or other reasons, to not have their software migrate from "unstable" to "testing" can prevent that from happening. Basically, Jeff has ensured that a lot of people who might help by finding bugs won't simply because he managed to convince the Maintaners (by whatever means) that putting software which is unstable into "unstable" for testing is bad. Anand note: I've used quotes to refer to actual Debian distributions. -- `` We are shaped by our thoughts, we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. '' -- Buddha, The Dhammapada -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
