From 1ec7ddaa62e53173b4e1d2982f2bc0a3c8993fa7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Daniel Baumann Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:18:45 +0100 Subject: Updating cd includes. --- .../etch/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-choosing.en.html | 961 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 961 insertions(+) create mode 100644 includes/etch/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-choosing.en.html (limited to 'includes/etch/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-choosing.en.html') diff --git a/includes/etch/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-choosing.en.html b/includes/etch/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-choosing.en.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..e0403cc09 --- /dev/null +++ b/includes/etch/common/doc/FAQ/html/ch-choosing.en.html @@ -0,0 +1,961 @@ + + + + + + + + +The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ - Choosing a Debian distribution + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

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+ +

+The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ +
Chapter 3 - Choosing a Debian distribution +

+ +

+There are many different Debian distributions. Choosing the proper Debian +distribution is an important decission. This section covers some information +useful for users that want to make the choice best suited for their system and +also answers possible questions that might be arising during the process. It +does not deal with "why you should choose Debian" but rather +"which distribution of Debian". +

+ +

+For more information on the available distributions read How many Debian distributions are there?, +Section 6.1. +

+ +

3.1 Which Debian distribution (stable/testing/unstable) is better for me?

+ +

+The answer is a bit complicated. It really depends on what you intend to do. +One solution would be to ask a friend who runs Debian. But that does not mean +that you cannot make an independent decision. In fact, you should be able to +decide once you complete reading this chapter. +

+
+If security or stability are at all important for you: install stable. period. +This is the most preferred way. +
+

+
+If you are a new user installing to a desktop machine, start with stable. Some +of the software is quite old, but it's the least buggy environment to work in. +You can easily switch to the more modern unstable once you are a little more +confident. +
+

+
+If you are a desktop user with some experience in Linux and does not mind +facing the odd bug now and then, use unstable. It has all the latest and +greatest software, and bugs are usually fixed swiftly. +
+

+
+If you are running a server, especially one that has strong stability +requirements or is exposed to the Internet, install stable. This is by far the +strongest and safest choice. +
+

+ +

+The following questions (hopefully) provide more detail on these choices. +After reading this whole FAQ, if you still could not make a decision, stick +with the stable distribution. +

+ +

3.1.1 You asked me to install stable, but in stable so and so hardware is not detected/working. What should I do?

+ +

+Try to search the web using a search engine and see if someone else is able to +get it working in stable. Most of the hardware should work fine with stable. +But if you have some state-of-the-art, cutting edge hardware, it might not work +with stable. If this is the case, you might want to install/upgrade to +unstable. +

+ +

+For laptops, http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/ +is a very good website to see if someone else is able to get it to work under +Linux. The website is not specific to Debian, but is nevertheless a tremendous +resource. I am not aware of any such website for desktops. +

+ +

+Another option would be to ask in the debian-user mailing list by sending an +email to debian-user@lists.debian.org . Messages can be posted to the list +even without subscribing. The archives can be read through http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/ +Information regarding subscribing to the list can be found at the location of +archives. You are strongly encourage to post your questions on the +mailing-list than on irc. The mailing-list messages +are archived, so solution to your problem can help others with the same issue. +

+ +

3.1.2 Will there be different different versions of packages in different distributions?

+ +

+Yes. Unstable has the most recent (latest) versions. But the packages in +unstable are not well tested and might have bugs. +

+ +

+On the other hand, stable contains old versions of packages. But this package +is well tested and is less likely to have any bugs. +

+ +

+The packages in testing fall between these two extremes. +

+ +

3.1.3 The stable distributions really contains outdated packages. Just look at Kde, Gnome, Xorg or even the kernel. They are very old. Why is it so?

+ +

+Well, you might be correct. The age of the packages at stable depends on when +the last release was made. Since there is typically over 1 year between +releases you might find that stable contains old versions of packages. +However, they have been tested in and out. One can confidently say that the +packages do not have any known severe bugs, security holes etc., in them. The +packages in stable integrate seamlessly with other stable packages. These +characteristics are very important for production servers which have to work 24 +hours a day, 7 days a week. +

+ +

+On the other hand, packages in testing or unstable can have hidden bugs, +security holes etc., Moreover, some packages in testing and unstable might not +be working as intended. Usually people working on a single desktop prefer +having the latest and most modern set of packages. Unstable is the solution +for this group of people. +

+ +

+As you can see, stability and novelty are two opposing ends of the spectrum. +If stability is required: install stable distribution. If you want to work +with the latest packages, then install unstable. +

+ +

3.1.4 If I were to decide to change to another distribution, Can I do that?

+ +

+Yes, but it is a one way process. You can go from stable --> testing --> +unstable. But the reverse direction is not "possible". So better be +sure if you are planning to install/upgrade to unstable. +

+ +

+Actually, if you are an expert and if you are willing to spend some time and if +you are real careful and if you know what you are doing, then it might be +possible to go from unstable to testing and then to stable. The installer +scripts are not designed to do that. So in the process, your configuration +files might be lost and.... +

+ +

3.1.5 Could you tell me whether to install testing or unstable?

+ +

+This is a rather subjective issue. There is no perfect answer but only a +"wise guess" could be made while deciding between unstable and +testing. My personal order of preference is Stable, Unstable and Testing. The +issue is like this: +

+
+Stable is rock solid. It does not break. +
+

+
+Testing breaks less often than Unstable. But when it breaks, it takes a long +time for things to get rectified. Sometimes this could be days and it could be +months at times. +
+

+
+Unstable changes a lot, and it can break at any point. However, fixes get +rectified in many occasions in a couple of days and it always has the latest +releases of software packaged for Debian. +
+

+ +

+But there are times when tracking testing would be beneficial as opposed to +unstable. The author such situation due to the gcc transition from gcc3 to +gcc4. He was trying to install the labplot package on a machine +tracking unstable and it could not be installed in unstable as some of its +dependencies have undergone gcc4 transition and some have not. But the package +in testing was installable on a testing machine as the gcc4 transitioned +packages had not "trickled down" to testing. +

+ +

3.1.6 You are talking about testing being broken. What do you mean by that?

+ +

+Sometimes, a package might not be installable through package management tools. +Sometimes, a package might not be available at all, maybe it was (temporarily) +removed due to bugs or unmet dependencies. Sometimes, a package installs but +does not behave in the proper way. +

+ +

+When these things happen, the distribution is said to be broken (at least for +this package). +

+ +

3.1.7 Why is it that testing could be broken for months? Wont the fixes introduced in unstable flow directly down into testing?

+ +

+The bug fixes and improvements introduced in the unstable distribution trickle +down to testing after a certain number of days. Let's say this threshold is 10 +days. The packages in unstable go into testing only when there are no RC-bugs +reported against them. If there is a RC-bug filed against a package in +unstable, it will not go into testing after the 10 days. +

+ +

+The idea is that, if the package has any problems, it would be discovered by +people using unstable and will be fixed before it enters testing. This keeps +the testing in an usable state for most period of the time. Overall a +brilliant concept, if you ask me. But things are alwasy not so simple. +Consider the following situation: +

+
+Imagine you are interested in package XYZ. +
+

+
+Let's assume that on June 10, the version in testing is XYZ-3.6 and in unstable +it is XYZ-3.7 +
+

+
+After 10 days, XYZ-3.7 from unstable migrates into testing. +
+

+
+So on June 20, both testing and unstable have XYZ-3.7 in their repositories. +
+

+
+Let's say, The user of testing distribution sees that a new XYZ package is +available and updates his XYZ-3.6 to XYZ-3.7 +
+

+
+Now on June 25, someone using testing or unstable discovers an RC bug in +XYZ-3.7 and files it in the BTS. +
+

+
+The maintainer of XYZ fixes this bug and uploads it to unstable say on June 30. +Here it is assumed that it takes 5 days for the maintainer to fix the bug and +upload the new version. The number 5 should not be taken literally. It could +be less or more, depending upon the severity of the RC-bug at hand. +
+

+
+This new version in unstable, XYZ-3.8 is scheduled to enter testing on July +10th. +
+

+
+But on July 5th some other person, discovers another RC-bug in XYZ-3.8 +
+

+
+Let's say the maintainer of XYZ fixes this new RC-bug and uploads new version +of XYZ after 5 days. +
+

+
+So on July 10, testing has XYZ-3.7 while unstable has XYZ-3.9 +
+

+
+This new version XYZ-3.9 is now rescheduled to enter testing on July 20th. +
+

+
+Now since you are running testing, and since XYZ-3.7 is buggy, you could +probably use XYZ only after July 20th. That is you essentially ended up with a +broken XYZ for about one month. +
+

+ +

+The situation can get much more complicated, if say, XYZ depends on 4 other +packages. This could in turn lead to unusable testing distribution for months. +The above scenario which is artificially created by me, can occur in the real +life. But such occurrences are rare. +

+ +

3.1.8 From an administrator's point of view, Which distribution requires more attention?

+ +

+One of the main reasons many people chose Debian over other Linux distributions +is that it requires very little administration. People want a system that just +works. In general one can say that, stable requires very little maintenance +while testing and unstable require constant maintenance from the administrator. +If you are running stable, all you need to worry about is, keeping track of +security updates. If you are running either testing or unstable it is a good +idea to be aware of the new bugs discovered in the installed packages, new +bugfixes/features introduced etc. +

+ +

3.1.9 What happens when a new release is made?

+ +

+This question will not help you in choosing a Debian distribution. But sooner +or later you will face this question. +

+ +

+The stable distribution is currently etch; The next stable distribution will be +called as lenny. Let's consider the particular case as to what happens when +lenny is released as the new stable version. +

+
+oldstable = sarge; stable = etch; testing = lenny; unstable = sid +
+

+
+Unstable is always referred to as sid irrespective of whether a release is made +or not. +
+

+
+packages constantly migrate from sid to testing (i.e. lenny). But packages in +stable (i.e. etch) remain the same except for security updates. +
+

+
+after sometime testing becomes frozen. But it will still be called testing. +At this point no new packages from unstable can migrate to testing unless they +include release-critical (RC) bug fixes. +
+

+
+When testing is frozen, all the new bugfixes introduced, have to be manualy +checked by the members of the release team. This is done to ensure that there +wont be any unknown severe problems in the frozen testing. +
+

+
+RC bugs in 'frozen testing' are reduced to zero. +
+

+
+The 'frozen testing' with no rc-bugs will be released as the new stable +version. In our example, this new stable release will be called as lenny. +
+

+
+At this stage oldstable = etch, stable = lenny. The contents of stable and +'frozen testing' are same at this point. +
+

+
+A new testing is forked from the current stable. +
+

+
+Packages start coming down from sid to testing and the Debian community will be +working towards making the next stable release. +
+

+ +

3.1.10 I have a working Desktop/cluster with Debian installed. How do I know which distribution I am running?

+ +

+In most situations it is very easy to figure this out. Take a look at the +/etc/apt/sources.list file. There will be an entry similar to +this: +

+ +

+     deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib
+

+ +

+The third field ('unstable' in the above example) indicates the Debian +distribution the system is currently tracking. +

+ +

+You can also use lsb_release (available in the +lsb-release package). If you run this program in an unstable +system you will get: +

+ +

+     $ lsb_release  -a
+     LSB Version:    core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-noarch:core-3.1-noarch:core-2.0-ia32:core-3.0-ia32:core-3.1-ia32
+     Distributor ID: Debian
+     Description:    Debian GNU/Linux unstable (sid)
+     Release:    unstable
+     Codename:   sid
+

+ +

+However, this is always not that easy. Some systems might have +sources.list files with multiple entries corresponding to +different distributions. This could happen if the administrator is tracking +different packages from different Debian distributions. This is frequently +referred to as apt-pinning. These systems might run a mixture of +distributions. +

+ +

3.1.11 I am currently tracking stable. Can I change to testing or unstable? If so, How?

+ +

+If you are currently running stable, then in the +/etc/apt/sources.list file the third field will be either etch or +stable. You need to change this to the distribution you want to run. If you +want to run testing, then change the third field of +/etc/apt/sources.list to testing. If you want to run unstable, +then change the third field to unstable. +

+ +

+Currently testing is called lenny. So, if you change the third field of +/etc/apt/sources.list to lenny, then also you will be running +testing. But when lenny becomes stable, you will still be tracking lenny. +

+ +

+Unstable is always called Sid. So if you change the third field of +/etc/apt/sources.list to sid, then you will be tracking unstable. +

+ +

+Currently Debian offers security updates for testing but not for unstable, as +fixes in unstable are directly made to the main archive. So if you are running +unstable make sure that you remove the lines relating to security updates in +/etc/apt/sources.list. +

+ +

+If there is a release notes document available for the distribution you are +upgrading to (even though it has not yet been released) it would be wise to +review it, as it might provide information on how you should upgrade to it. +

+ +

+Nevertheless, once you make the above changes, you can run aptitude +update and then install the packages that you want. Notice that +installing a package from a different distribution might automatically upgrade +half of your system. If you install individual packages you will end up with a +system running mixed distributions. +

+ +

+It might be best in some situations to just fully upgrade to the new +distribution running apt-get dist-upgrade, aptitude +safe-upgrade or aptitude full-upgrade. Read apt's and +aptitude's manual pages for more information. +

+ +

3.1.12 I am currently tracking testing (lenny). What will happen when a release is made? Will I still be tracking testing or will my machine be running the new stable distribution?

+ +

+It depends on the entries in the /etc/apt/sources.list file. If +you are currently tracking testing, these entries are similar to either: +

+ +

+     deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main
+

+ +

+or +

+ +

+     deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main
+

+ +

+If the third field in /etc/apt/sources.list is 'testing' then you +will be tracking testing even after a release is made. So after lenny is +released, you will be running a new Debian distribution which will have a +different codename. Changes might not be apparent at first but will be evident +as soon as new packages from unstable go over to the testing distribution. +

+ +

+But if the third field contains 'lenny' then you will be tracking stable (since +lenny will then be the new stable distribution). +

+ +

3.1.13 I am still confused. What did you say I should install?

+ +

+If unsure, the best bet would be stable distribution. +

+ +

3.2 But what about Knoppix, Linex, Ubuntu, and others?

+ +

+They are not Debian; they are Debian based. Though there are many +similarities and commonalities between them, there are also crucial +differences. +

+ +

+All these distributions have their own merits and are suited to some specific +set of users. For more information, read the information of software distributions based +on Debian available at the Debian website. +

+ +

3.2.1 I know that Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... is Debian-based. So after installing it on the hard disk, can I use 'apt' package tools on it?

+ +

+These distributions are Debian based. But they are not Debian. You will be +still able to use apt package tools by pointing the +/etc/apt/sources.list file to these distributions' repositories. +But then you are not running Debian, you are running a different distribution. +They are not the same. +

+ +

+In most situations if you stick with one distribution you should use that and +not mix packages from other distributions. Many common breakages arise due to +people running a distribution and trying to install Debian packages from other +distributions. The fact that they use the same formatting and name (.deb) does +not make them inmediately compatible. +

+ +

+For example, Knoppix is a Linux distribution designed to be booted as a live CD +where as Debian is designed to be installed on hard-disk. Knoppix is great if +you want to know whether a particular hardware works, or if you want to +experience how a linux system 'feels' etc., Knoppix is good for demonstration +purposes while Debian is designed to run 24/7. Moreover the number of packages +available, the number of architectures supported by Debian are far more greater +than that of Knoppix. +

+ +

+If you want Debian, it is best to install Debian from the get-go. Although it +is possible to install Debian through other distributions, such as Knoppix, the +procedure calls for expertise. If you are reading this FAQ, I would assume +that you are new to both Debian and Knoppix. In that case, save yourself a lot +of trouble later and install Debian right at the beginning. +

+ +

3.2.2 I installed Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... on my hard disk. Now I have a problem. What should I do?

+ +

+You are advised not to use the Debian forums (either mailing lists or IRC) for +help as people might advise you thinking that you are running a Debian system +and the "fixes" they provide might not be suited to what you are +running. They might even worsen the problem you are facing. +

+ +

+Use the forums of the specific distribution you are using first. If you do not +get help or the help you get does not fix your problem you might want to try +asking in Debian forums, but keep the advise of the previous paragraph in mind. +

+ +

3.2.3 I'm using Knoppix/Linex/Ubuntu/... and now I want to use Debian. How do I migrate?

+ +

+Consider the change from a Debian-based distribution to Debian just like a +change from one operating system to another one. You should make a backup of +all your date and reinstall the operating system from scratch. You should not +attempt to "upgrade" to Debian using the package management tools as +you might end up with an unusable system. +

+ +

+If all your user data (i.e. your /home) is under a separate +partition migrating to Debian is actually quite simple, you just have to tell +the installation system to mount (but not reformat) that partition when +reinstalling. Making backups of your data, as well as your previous system's +configuration (i.e. /etc/ and, maybe, /var/) is +still encouraged. +

+ +