Change to Testing
 

I've just installed a very basic Debian stable. I don't even have X running properly yet. Thing is, I had no intention of staying with stable, I want to move to testing immediately.

The question is, do I need to first have a running , working X environment in Woody to move to Sarge, or can I do it now?

You don't need X. To update your system you need just a configured network connection and the very base package management tools (the "required" packages). You allready have them if you have not done anything plain wrong in the installation.

Just

• add your to your /etc/apt/sources.list lines:
  
  Code:

  ---

  deb ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib
deb-src ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib

  ---

  (with "fi" replaced with your local/closest mirror)
• Run
  Code:

  ---

  apt-get update

  ---

  to get new package-lists. There might be a problem (with many sources and with old apt), that the cache gets full. So you might have to also add a line
  Code:

  ---

  APT::Cache-Limit 12582912;

  ---

  to /etc/apt/apt.conf to override the (too small) default value.
• Run
  Code:

  ---

  apt-get dist-upgrade

  ---

  and follow the instructions on screen. That should be it.

A word of warning: the sarge is not ready yet; if you are planning to use that computer as a desktop machine there should be a problem, but I wouldn't put sarge as a server into a production environment just yet.