On Fri, 4 Jul 2003 08:10:37 -0600
"John W. M. Stevens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> If you're absolutely opposed to any unstable packages, then I
>> guess you're screwed. That's what you get for running testing.
>
> What, are you saying that I'm less likely to get screwed by running
> experimental, than testing?
>
> I didn't know that. Why?
I wouldn't say you're less likely to get screwed by running
experimental. I'd say that you're *much* less likely to get
screwed by running a GNOME2 backport to woody, and generally
less likely to get screwed by running sid.
In general, up until the pre-release package freeze on testing, it's a
bad idea to think of testing as an intact version of Debian. I tend to
think of testing as kind of like a big cardboard box in which the
different elements of the upcoming release are being placed, continually
being replaced by new versions as they become available (according to
the rules for stuff moving from unstable to testing). At any given
point, up until the time of release, it's possible for stuff that will
need to be in that box at release-time to not be there yet; and it's
possible for some of the stuff in that box to not get along well with
other stuff in that box. In general, people try to avoid stuff going
into testing that will cause problems for people who track it closely;
but it still happens sometimes.
A number of GNOME2 packages apparently haven't made it down into
testing yet. Thus, any GNOME2 installation drawn from testing is bound
to be incomplete, and have problems. That's the nature of testing;
stuff like that happens. And when people tracking testing experience
problems with GNOME2 at this point, that's not a problem with GNOME2 or
testing; the problem is with the expectation that GNOME2 in sarge should
necessarily work. Put another way, it's no more a problem with testing
than the fact that a car halfway down an assembly line doesn't work is
a problem with the car; instead, the problem is with the expectation
that a car at that stage of assembly *should* work.
So what to do? If all you really want is GNOME2, then your best option
is running woody + a backport of GNOME2 to woody (see www.apt-get.org).
If you need official packages, then your best bet is to bite the bullet
and run sid. Choosing one of these options also brings you the bonus
that you'll get security updates more quickly, as testing is the last
place for security updates to appear (since testing won't see security
updates to packages until the updated versions are put into sid and work
through the process of packages moving from sid to testing).
-c
--
Chris Metzler [EMAIL PROTECTED]
(remove "snip-me." to email)
"As a child I understood how to give; I have forgotten this grace since I
have become civilized." - Chief Luther Standing Bear
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