[kwlug-disc] definition of debian's "stable"?

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Mon, 17 Aug 2009, Chris Frey wrote:

> On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 01:12:26PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> >   the impression i get is that
> >
> > 1) if you're targeting the "stable" release, the *only* upgrades
> > you'll normally get are strictly security-related, not bug fixes.
> >
> > 2) eventually, once enough useful big fixes *do* accumulate, a new
> > "point release" comes out (5.0.1, 5.0.2?) which *will* allow
> > non-security-related issues to be addressed.  but this will still
> > fall under the "stable" release name, right?
>
> That's correct.  I once reported a bug in pango in Lenny, and got a
> patch back to test, which worked, and it had to wait for the next
> point release... I think it's in 5.0.2 now.

  fair enough, but that tells me that the current documentation (and i
am reading the latest docs) is misleading.

  the docs are quite adamant that, once a release is, well, released,
then the *only* updates you'll get will be strictly security-related.
however, as you describe above, non-security-related fixes *can* be
included in point releases, which as best as i can tell, will *still*
be included as part of the "stable" upgrade stream, no?

  i have no problem if that's the case.  it's just not the impression
you'd get by reading the current docs.

rday
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Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

        Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry.

Web page:                                          http://crashcourse.ca
Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
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