On Mon, 1 Jul 2019 15:34:55 -0400 Default User <hunguponcont...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Well, a recent thread about encrypted file systems got me to thinking. > > What if a new Stable release introduces a major change to the existing > distribution technology or methodology? > > For example, a new default filesystem is introduced. That's happened a couple of times in my experience. Nothing changes on an upgraded system, you are just offered the new one as a default on a new installation. The old default will not be dropped for at least one more release cycle, usually much longer with something as fundamental as a filesystem. > Or something > like systemd infects the distribution or its rate of metastasis > accelerates, etc. Or an important package management system or > communication protocol is superseded or falls into disuse, or is > simply abandoned by its developers or maintainers. Presumably, apt-get will be dropped one day, but apt is already the preferred system, with more functionality than apt-get. > > I was wondering if an existing Unstable setup could diverge so far > from Stable that major surgery would be necessary, or even complete > replacement with Stable, followed by conversion to contemporaneous > Unstable. Debian's main selling point is that a Stable can *always* be upgraded in place to the next version, so that kind of incompatibility does not arise. You may need to use a new configuration file for some applications: keeping the old one often works, but not always. You can't rely on an upgrade going perfectly on a first try, it's always worth trying it on a spare machine if at all possible, but there's always a way of doing it. Some packages are dropped (i.e. not just a new version introduced) but the obsolete package will not be removed without explicit permission. It just wouldn't be available to a new installation. Certainly, Unstable moves away from a new Stable until it is pretty much the next Stable, which usually involves major changes. But the old way of doing things can usually be used for a while. Do expect rapid and large changes in Unstable and Testing when a new Stable is born, there's always a backlog of new packages that are *not* compatible with the former Testing. This also happens when Testing is frozen. -- Joe
