On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:09:38 +0000
Leo <linux@???> wrote:
> I'm going to do a reinstall of my home server which currently runs
> debian stable. I want to put a more up-to-date distro on it and am
> thinking either debian unstable or ubuntu server. I'm edging towards
> debian but, despite some googling, it's not clear to me how many
> broken packages/problems I'm likely to encounter with it. Has anyone
> much experience with it? Is it a hassle to maintain?
I have been running Debian unstable on my main system with no serious
problems for more than 5 years. There are occasional glitches but they
are usually corrected within a few days.
It isn't any problem to maintain, I run cron-apt on all my debian
systems (other than laptops) and so get daily downloads of all updated
packages without needing to run 'aptitude update' (I prefer aptitude to
apt-get) and the first thing I do each day is run aptitude
safe-upgrade.
I don't normally run aptitude full-upgrade as that can delete stuff you
probably want to keep as this example shows:-
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
acroread-dictionary-en: Depends: acroread (= 9.4.6-0.1) but 9.4.6-0.0
is installed.
acroread-l10n-en: Depends: acroread (= 9.4.6-0.1) but 9.4.6-0.0 is
installed.
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:
Remove the following
packages:
1) acroread
2) acroread-data
3) acroread-debian-files
4) acroread-dictionary-en
5) acroread-escript
6) acroread-l10n-en
7) acroread-plugins
Leave the following dependencies
unresolved:
8) acroread-debian-files recommends acroread-l10n-en |
acroread-l10n
9) acroread-debian-files recommends acroread-dictionary-en |
acroread-dictio
cancelling the full-upgrade and leaving acroread as it was for a few
days solved the problem.
I wouldn't suggest using testing for a server as IMHO it is more likely
to be broken some of the time than unstable, it is of course used for
the transition from unstable to (currently) wheezy so is going to
change just as often as unstable.
I am using debian stable for my local (geneweb) database server and on
my VPS and it is rock solid with only security updates to be checked
for.
So unless there is a version of a package you absolutely must have,
stick to stable for your server. It might be worth checking backports
to see if there is a later version of the package you need as someone
else may have needed it and packaged it up so it will install in stable.
--
John Lewis
using Debian sid
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