Ok, for about 2 years i was using Unstable and at the beginning, all worked somehow fine. But the more i was installing things, the more it became really Unstable.
Actually, i wanted to look for another distro because i was fed up of this Debian. The most annoying thing is the path layout that is not compatible with the "normal path layout". That is, if you want to install by hand (./configure, make, make install) a specific recent software requiring some libraries, the configure script may not find the librairies you have installed from debian package (may be there is a way to resolve this but i'm too noob). Thus, i thought we had to install "all by hand" or "all by package". I chose the "all by package" way and, by selecting the Sid it has provided me the most recent softwares. But it's a real mess and at the end, there were so much problems i didn't want to go into.

1 month ago, an apt-get install operation failed and my kde didn't want to start again(i'm using windows now). It's the dreamt moment to reinstall linux on sane bases.

I think we can make collaborate the "by hand" installed software and the "by package" installed software if we're interesting in what exactly does apt when installing and where it installs things.

I saw there was a brand new stable version : Sarge.
In fact, my question is : is it possible to install really recent software directly from sources when we're using a stable version?

Other scenario : i need to install something requiring libfoobar 3.2. I have this library but the stable version provides only the libfoobar 2.4. What can i do?


Thank you for reading me.

Running sid isn't really recommended if you're new to linux. Most people say you're ready for it when you can fix the errors that can occur. There's also etch, which is testing. It has newer packages than sarge (only gets security updates) but packages have been tested in unstable already so you won't have any of the big bugs, that might break parts of your system.

I'm running sid for over a year now and I've never had trouble with compiling a few things from source. The only thing I found is that if you have trouble with things not being recognized it's often that you miss the -dev package. Still compiling software from source isn't really recommended as apt won't know of the packages if you install that way. I'm not sure but I think there is a way to let apt know them. I only compile from source when there is no official debian package available, which rarely happens.

I think there's a difference between places where debian files end up and other distros, but I'm not sure who's 'right' there, if you can speak of such a thing anyway.

It's possible to install really new software in sarge. However all dependencies have to be fulfilled. Right now there's not a big difference between sarge and etch but over time this will increase and so you'll have to compile more and more over. So it's possible to upgrade. You also might want to check the backports site which has newer packages for stable. However that kind of breaks the idea of having a stable branch.

If you want new software (not bleeding edge though) I'd say try testing if you feel like it. Don't start sid though unless you're ready for it and know how to fix some problems like broken dependencies or xservers that won't start.

Hope this helps

If you use checkinstall to install from source the programs show up in Synaptic and can be removed with a simple apt-get remove.

The simplest way to avoid problems with Sid is to install apt-listbugs and to pay attention to the bug details listed when you try to install something. Pinning some of the problem apps or apps that other ones seem to want to remove helps also.

You can install a "safe" Debian unstable using Ubuntu,Kanotix or Knoppix.

Ubuntu, kanotic and knoppix are based on debian unstable.

Knoppix hard disk install will bring you in trouble when you keep it around long since it will break.

For the rest there's nothing but the real debian.

If you're bleeding edge and want to be able to compile software easily yourself, you might be better of using a "lighter" distro than Debian. Arch and Gentoo might perhaps suit you better.

I have heard that about a Knoppix install. Hm wonder why Kanotix isn't the same? I have used it since Nov '04 on my desktop and laptop with no problems(Well at least none that I didn't cause).

Could be because I don't do all of the updates, use apt-listbugs {any critical bugs I don't upgrade}, few if any apps installed from source/tarballs. I have a few apps pinned as well.

I also went through and removed most of the apps that weren't required or that I didn't need.

Thank you for your replies

Actually, i was interesting in LFS (for its educational side) but i finally thought it was too much work to do just a few things.

Yes a Gentoo-like distro may be more suitable for me.
I didn't knew Arch, i have read an introduction to it, i have been charmed. May be i'll choose this.

Thanks

Arch is good, albeit a little hard to install.