I just starting using Debian about a month ago and I was gonna try the unstable version SID...I think thats what its called. Is there any reason with I shouldnt do this? And how do I go about doing this?

Not really recommended, if your running Etch trying to do apt-get dist-upgrade to Sid will most likely result in your system committing suicide.

It is possible probably just not highly recommended.

If you want to try Sid either install it or give Sidux a try.

ok thanks how do I go about install sid....I've got the minimal CD

Id just like to get the lastest packages.

Do you recommend me install SID? is it that bad ever one says no but i hear it just fine for desktop use

Right now Sid is pretty solid. You probably wouldn't have any problems if you just changed each occurrence of Etch (or stable) in your sources.list file to Sid (or unstable) and then ran # aptitude dist-upgrade.

On the other hand, the fact that you are so ignorant about Debian that you don't know that already does not speak well for your chances of surviving it when things get rough again, as they sometimes do in Sid.

My recommendation would be that you, instead use the same process to move to Lenny (testing) for a while, and study things like the Apt-Howto, the Aptitude User's Manual, and other Debian documentation, and Debian related howtos.

anyone else.....how do i install SID since I shouldnt upgrade b/c of it messing up???

You can always try using one of the Sid beta installers from:
http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/main/

Here are a few:

also:

I think the general rule of thumb is: if you don't know how to install SID, you probably shouldn't be using it in the first place.

Also, I've done "etch installs" followed by upgrades to SID quite a few times and never had problems. (so far). But I think you can consider that "lucky".

I would recommend you stick with Testing. Just change the occurrences of "Etch" in /etc/apt/sources.lst to "lenny", and "aptitude update && aptitude dist-upgrade".

Sid can get messy at times, Testing (lenny) is by far your best bet. You get frequent updates, recent packages and reasonable stability.

--Ian

Unstable doesn't add that much compared to testing. I was running unstable for a year or something and when etch arrived I stayed 1 month in stable and then went to testing. I haven't gone back to unstable since then.

You could also try with debootstrap and run sid in a chroot environment. You would only share the same kernel.
man debootstrap
man chroot

I haven't done it but it looks like with a normal net install you have to choose expert and then it asks you stable/testing/unstable.

If you feel you absolutely MUST have sid, then do as craigevil suggests and install sidux. It is less likely to cause you grief:

http://sidux.com/

It's not the "upgrading" that's the problem it's the fact that Sids real name is unstable, and it's called that for a good reason. Basically can you fix it by yourself when it breaks? And it will break, sure it's pretty stable now but that can change tomorrow.

I tried this last night with the netinstal 4.0r1 CD and the option to choose a distro was not offered. I have done it in the past but it seems to be one of those options they put in and take out randomly.. or maybe it's only available in the more recent development netinstall CD's..

It certainly was the fastest way to get a testing or unstable system.

If anyone knows for certain which netinstall images currently allow this option in expert mode, I'd appreciate a heads up.


Thanks !

Heres the thing about Sid, sometimes, like how it is now it just runs flawless, but at other times, you have to know what your doing as a apt-get upgrade may screw things up for you. I have an old system with Olllld hardware, newer not fully tested things usually are the most lacking on platforms like that. Like when Sarge was testing, it diddnt support my Adaptec SCSI HD adapter.

Which of course raises the question, do you Reaaaaaly need it? I just use Lenny and change the repo list to point to Sid for specific packages where I need the newest version.


If you really do want Sid though, you need to DL the SID installer iso, just grab the small Sid net install from their site. It is a different installer for stable/testing/unstable.

Zaskar: so you're mixing branches? You have bigger nuts than me. And I run Debian SID on all my computers, dist-upgrading them daily.

There is a wrong way (like Zaskar) and a right way to run a mixed Lenny/Sid system.