I know about that, but then you have to pull stuff like glibc etc from unstable...
On 7/27/07, Jonathan Kaye <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Tim Hull wrote: > > > I'm currently trying out both Debian and Ubuntu on my MacBook to see > which > > one I prefer. > > Right now, I'm currently liking Debian better - the stability seems > > better, and it seems easier to customize > > - but I need to run software that's newer than what's in etch (not for a > > lust for bleeding-edge, but simply for the reason > > that my MacBook won't suspend or do proper power management in any > kernel > > older than 2.6.22). I also want to be > > able to get updated packages such as the newest Firefox...er..Iceweasel > > (still hate that name, would prefer something > > less silly). > > > > I know the easy Debian solution is to run testing/unstable - it seems > like > > most people do. However, then you lose the advantage of > > stability. I actually tried testing and unstable, but found a critical > > bug pertaining to my video card - my system likes to reboot on suspend > > with the > > new Xorg drivers (yes, dutifully reported it to BTS). For this reason, > I > > figure I'll confine Lenny/Sid to a VM or chroot, and I've been looking > > into > > backports. However, backports.org doesn't seem to have what I need (it > > only has 2.6.21 kernel, doesn't have the new acpi-support, not to > mention > > some > > extra gstreamer plugins I wanted). What would be the ideal solution > for > > me? Is there a reliable way to roll my own backports using apt to pull > in > > dependencies? Can I build from Sid sources on an as-needed basis? I've > > come across a tool called "apt-build" which pulls down dependencies and > > builds from source - is it what I need? What should I put in my > > sources.list ? > > > > On a side note, I will say that the one area I think FOSS lags behind > > Windows and Mac is in updating individual system components. I LIKE > being > > able to update a few things without hackish solutions (i.e. build from > > source tarballs) or updating my whole system. You can do it easily on > > Mac/Windows, but it's quite difficult and unreliable on nearly every > > distribution. I think Debian really ought to look into making backports > > an official project and integrating it into the stable release as a way > to > > get > > updates on an as-needed basis. It may even be an interesting idea to > do > > point releases of stable with some backports included. Has this ever > been > > discussed? It seems a lot better than simply speeding up the release > > cycle... > Hi Tim, > Have you looked at apt-pinning? I think this gives you exactly what you're > looking for. I personally don't find using testing loses me any stability > but that's just my opinion. There's a simple introduction to apt-pinning > that you can find here: > http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html > This may do the trick for you. > Cheers, > Jonathan > -- > Registerd Linux user #445917 at http://counter.li.org/ > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
