[clue-talk] Alternative KDE distro

[Collins Richey]

On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 6:00 PM, Michael Irons <michael.irons at gmail.com> wrote:

> It seems everyones definition of unstable is different.  Which is why I ask
> for clarification on whether distros are a "stable unstable"?

Debian has very specific definitions.

1) Experimental. Raw code from incoming. Little or no testing has been
done. Immediately after a stable release, a huge number of packages
may enter sid.

2) Unstable. After some amount of testing, packages are moved to sid
(permanent name for unstable) where lots more testing happens. Very
volatile, lots of updates.

3) Testing (new name for each release) - the candidate testing area
for a new stable release. After some period of testing in sid,
packages are moved to testing. When the developers believe that the
candidate may be ready for release, the repository is frozen - no new
pacages, only fixes to the current contents. At this point sid is
usually frozen also. When the number of open bugs reaches the desired
level, the release is done.

4) stable - the final output of the above. After release, only fixes
are done, no new packages until next release cycle.

sidux qualifies as a "stable unstable" system. Packages come from
Debian unstable, but severe problems are few and far between. There
are a lot of sidux testers, so careful reading of the forums provides
(usually) sufficient advance warning to smoothe the rough edges.sidux
may be moderately unstable after a release cutoff due to the large
number of packages waiting after the testing freeze. For example, kde4
entered sid right after the last stable release, and there were lots
of "opportunities" due to this major, relatively untested set of
packages. Nevertheless, there are alternate desktop systems (xfce,
???box, and lxde), so these users would not be aware of the kde4
turmoil.  The sidux developers maintain that gnome packages in sid are
frequently and truly unstable, and that is one of the reasons they
prefer to support kde.



-- 
Collins Richey
     If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
     of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.