DebianThis forum is for the discussion of Debian Linux.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
I want to use the unstable sid version of debian but I have no idea how I install it.
I tried follow some guides on this site but it doesn't seem to work.
Download the netinstall CD and use the expert option in the boot-manager of the CD. This way it will ask you which version you want to install.
A different approach would be to install Testing (Wheezy at the moment) and then dist-upgrade to Sid.
Download the netinstall CD and use the expert option in the boot-manager of the CD. This way it will ask you which version you want to install.
A different approach would be to install Testing (Wheezy at the moment) and then dist-upgrade to Sid.
Okay. I couldn't find the option where I can choose which version to install. But I already have Wheezy installed. So how do I dist-upgrade it to Sid?
Open the file /etc/apt/sources.list with a text editor as root, then substitute all occurrences of wheezy and testing with sid, save the file and launch the commands:
Code:
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
You need to be root for that, too.
As usual, bad things may happen when using Sid (or upgrading to Sid), so don't forget to make a backup first. Really seldom had such problems when I was using Debian (mix of Sid and Experimental), but it is better to be on the safe side.
Open the file /etc/apt/sources.list with a text editor as root, then substitute all occurrences of wheezy and testing with sid, save the file and launch the commands:
Code:
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
You need to be root for that, too.
As usual, bad things may happen when using Sid (or upgrading to Sid), so don't forget to make a backup first. Really seldom had such problems when I was using Debian (mix of Sid and Experimental), but it is better to be on the safe side.
Yes comment out or remove the security repos. A basic sid sources.list should only be:
Code:
deb http://ftp.dk.debian.org/debian/ sid main
deb-src http://ftp.dk.debian.org/debian/ sid main
Mine is something like this (from memory as I'm not at my machine now):
Code:
#deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free
deb http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ experimental main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/ experimental main contrib non-free
deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org sid main non-free
#deb-src http://www.debian-multimedia.org sid main non-free
Quick question. What is the different between Sid and Testing? Looks to me its almost the same. And should I be using testing instead?
Packages are run through Sid first. Any obvious and major bugs are noted and maybe fixed. Only after spending some time in Sid do they go to Testing. Sometimes Sid and Testing share the same version of a package if the devs are slow in turning out a newer version. I'd say that as time goes by from the appearance of a stable release, the distance between stable and testing gets greater and greater whereas the distance between Testing and Unstable remains pretty constant until a couple of months before the next stable release. I'm sure with a quick search you can find a clearer and more complete description than this.
ciao,
jdk
Sid is the development branch, software gets there first. If the software is in Sid for a specific amount of time (I think 10 days, but not sure about that) without having bugs reported against it it moves down to testing. Testing is the branch that will be the next stable. Testing will be frozen before the release of a new version. That means that it will not get newer versions of software, and only bugfixes are allowed to go into testing.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
