Debian Etch is now frozen prior to release
Posted by Steve on Tue 12 Dec 2006 at 09:51
In case you missed the annoucement yesterday Debian Etch has now been frozen for release. This means that the distribution won't receive automatic updates over the next few days and weeks. Instead only "targetted" package updates will be made.
Whilst there is still work to be done before Etch may be released as the next stable release of Debian GNU/Linux this is an important milestone.
Here is the official release announcement which explains the process by which new updates will be made.
Hopefully this means we're on track for a speedy release!
When you have one of the best systems ever:)
stable/testing/unstable/experimental
for every case you have the solution !?
Why you need to be like fedora/ubunto releases on every 6 mounts!?
this is stupid debian is else we are different!
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Nobody wants to have a two-year old release like we had for Woody, so this is a fast one to see if we can do it.
Expect roughly yearly releases if all goes to plan.
Still you don't have to upgrade if you don't want to.
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Remember that Sarge was very late and Woody was stable for much longer than really anticipated.
I agree though that the stable/testing/unstable trio is a usfule set of versions. I find testing a nice distro to run, in that it's continually evolving and gradually gets better, rather than the stable-2-stable upgrade jump which is rather radical. I wouldn't run testing on a server or on a desktop system for someone I'm supporting, but for me I've found it relatively painless.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
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I had some BIG trouble with mysql-5 and with LVM.
Sarge is just little old, far away from being obsolete. If they could only put a more recent mysql-server package and php5, sarge could last for other 2 years imho.
Also consider that you have 3 branches stable/testing/unstable and you have also customizations of apt, like pinning packages that can help you a lot.
I dunno, i am a bit scary :-S
Sorry for my english, i know it sucks :-P
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You say you only need updates for mysql and php, but my guess is that those are the tools you personally use. i use them too, but i also use other tools, which are getting noticeably stale in sarge. See here for another user's take on what's exciting about the new release.
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I just say that i had problems with collations and locales installing mysql-5 and sometimes the check of partitions LVM fails. A new boot and everything's ok.
I know and i am glad that Etch has many new packages and featurs.
About php and mysql i just say that on a distro storically server-oriented like debian would be nice to have an upgrade of php4 and mysql-server-4.1.
I dont think i am asking so much ;-)
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What specifically went wrong for you with collations and locales on mysql5?
What do you mean sometimes the check of partitions LVM fails
?
as for what you want for sarge, it's against debian policy to add new versions to an existing stable release. That's what makes it stable, and that's why it is historically so well-trusted in the server room.
That said, if you want to run php5 on sarge, you can do it with debian backports without too much hassle, and it should upgrade cleanly when you do decide to move to etch.
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Using "testing" means that things can change too often to the point of view of a music teacher. But 18 months are good time for an upgrade. In that time you can really notice the improvements. I have upgradede ubuntu 6.06 to 6.10 and is basically the same system. But between sarge and etch we have a lot of new things.
This way, the stable branch is not the "years old system" that used to be. Anyone can use debian sarge installing openoffice 2.x and firefox and have a usable system.
So i'm really happy with etch frozen. That means that i can continue using stable at home without begin in a jurassic park!
Cheers, zaikxtox
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Anyway just moved the first desktop from Sarge to Etch, seems to have gone okay, done in about 1 hour.
--
"It's Not Magic, It's Work"
Adam
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The installer seems to be less interactive than sarge but i think thats my perception and me using DHCP to configure eth0. Although i cant remember configureing any packages.....
All in all i think etch will do just fine
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I'm having to run testing (with no major issues) coz I got a new PC this year that Sarge wouldnt on. I wonder how many people have been put off by the lack of a new stable release?
Well, no matter really.
More haste, less speed.
The best things are worth waiting for.
And dont forget that the Debain developers havent got Ubuntu's huge $$$ behind them to 'motivate' them for a release evry six months. Although with the the 6.10 debacle who cares.
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Having the unstable/testing systems gives the hability to run a stable distribution that is very often updated and does not suffer from errors that sometimes occour in unstable. I say this because, comparing to ubuntu, keeping up with their unstable distribution is pure suicide.
I think that stable does it's job. I compare it to red hat's RHEL in stability, target audience and reliability. The thing that stable is missing are some crutial support for new hardware and updated protocols. For example, stable could, in one year basis, to have 2 kernel updates (instead of a security update to the stable kernel, a new kernel would be brought up). Also some other software like clamav, or simply gaim. This maybe the purpose of volatile, but this is a fail that has been reported by users for many years now. It seems to be more risky to compile your own kernel just because part XXX does not work than debian to upgrade it.
The year basis release makes that, for example, the kernel team to make the built of a new kernel simplier and faster, from updtream, and to include them in debian. The same way, as i can see, the d-i also has this ability.
I think this is a point where, for example redhat, is above debian. In this case, comparing to ubuntu, you would wait for the next release. In debian, you can have backports.org .
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Is it as straight-forward as just swapping "Sarge" in /etc/apt/sources.list for "Etch" (or perhaps I should be replacing "Sarge" with "stable"???)?
Are there any issues to be aware of? (I think I read somewhere about kernel versions and hotplug/udev "gotcha"s but can't find them now.)
I'm currently running
!uname -a
Linux ratty 2.6.8-3-686-smp #1 SMP Sat Jul 15 08:52:57 UTC 2006 i686 GNU/Linux
on a dual 3GHz Xeon box (Intel server board SE7320SP2) with a couple of SATA hard drives and half dozen IDE hard drives.
Thanks, Michael
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Yes pretty much. Replace sarge with etch, then run:
apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade
Nothing major that I can think of which was difficult - but I guess it mostly depends on what you're running. See the online release notes for more details I guess.
I know we'll cover it here later, but not until it has been released..
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Ah, I'm getting mixed up between "frozen prior to release" and "has been released" ;)
I'll resist the urge to jump headlong into the upgrade and await the release!
Thanks, Michael
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Yes you are I think.
Debian Etch has not been released yet - instead it has been frozen such that only minimal upgrades are happening to the packages in it - if you're running Etch currently then you'll still get updates as bugfixes are pushed into it, but it wouldn't be like it was a few months ago with large numbers of packages being updated every day.
When etch has been officially released only security updates will be added to it, and we'll certainly announce it here!
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