[Grml] Re: Debian Etch and grml

[Michael Prokop]

* Marc Haber <mh+grml at zugschlus.de> [20070113 14:15]:
> On Mon, Jan 08, 2007 at 06:01:31PM -0700, s. keeling wrote:

[Debian Testing]
> > That's also the best place for a newbie to be.

> I disagree with that. Testing might be broken once upon a time, and
> when you're not able to fix this you don not belong on Testing.

Especially as Debian testing does not get real security-support. :(
That's not really relevant for workstations for me, but straight
before a new stable release is available that's an important point -
at least for me.

> Stable is the best place for a newbie to be.

"If it works" (the "brand new hardware problem") and if the newbie
does not need support from upstream (see my other mail for more
details).

> >   Helping to test testing helps Debian produce sable.

> Yes, but bug reports from newbies are seldomly useful. Which is no
> offense to the newbie; isolating and reporting bugs is a form of art.

Yes, at least regarding bug reports for package maintainers. ;) But
newbies can often locate problems in software because they lack
developer's "business blindness" (Betriebsblindheit). At least
isolating bugs is usually possible even with newbies, especially if
they have support on their side (instant messaging, irc,...).

> >   That said, Debian's unstable is more stable than many distros'
> >   stable release.

> Disagreed here. Especially in the period right after a stable release,
> unstable's breakages can be horrible.

The package freeze for Debian etch took place a few weeks ago. The
unstable pool is "moving [nearly] as usual" and I don't notice any
serious problems - and don't really expect to find any when etch is
out. :)

regards,
-mika-
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