[SOLVED] Testing or Backports repositories?

AndyMender · 2016-04-05 07:14:06

I am a big Debian fan and I like how Debian Stable is, well, stable. However, for my work I may often require more modern versions of certain applications and I'm not sure whether I can get those from jessie-backports.

My box is as follows:
Core 2 Duo 3.16 GHz
ATI FirePro 3D v5700
500 GB 5400 rpm HDD
80 GB 5400 rpm HDD
Qualcomm Atheros ethernet
Intel HDA integrated sound card

The key phrase here is software development. I temporarily transited to Testing repositories, but seeing the enormous amount of bugs reported through apt-listbugs scares me. I do mostly Python and Java development so I would appreciate the most recent version of Python2, Python3 and the Java Runtime.

BunsenLabs runs like heaven and I don't want to destabilize it if not needed.

Any suggestions?

Last edited by AndyMender (2016-04-05 19:45:28)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-04-05 07:20:52

Run Arch in a VM for your development stuff.

Debian testing/unstable is not intended for production use and is liable to break without notice at any time.

I would strongly recommend keeping a Debian stable system on your machine so that you will always have something that just works ©

Dual-booting is also an option but GNU/Linux under a QEMU/KVM virtual machine with hardware virtualisation is very close to the speed you would get from a bare-metal install and it's a lot more convenient.

[/$0.02]

Moved to Basic Help & Support

AndyMender · 2016-04-05 15:22:44

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

Run Arch in a VM for your development stuff.
Debian testing/unstable is not intended for production use and is liable to break without notice at any time.
I would strongly recommend keeping a Debian stable system on your machine so that you will always have something that just works ©
Dual-booting is also an option but GNU/Linux under a QEMU/KVM virtual machine with hardware virtualisation is very close to the speed you would get from a bare-metal install and it's a lot more convenient.
[/$0.02]
Moved to Basic Help & Support

Thankfully, I usually have backup systems, but apt-listbugs saved me enough times to appreciate it. I understand that neither Testing, nor especially Unstable are production-ready. However, I might need to make a compromise and simply use Testing + update my system with care to avoid breakage. Fortunately, I use minimal components so breakage should not happen too often.

Having a development virtual machine is probably a good idea, but then I would be spending most of my time on it and not on the main operating system . I guess trade-offs cannot be avoided in this case...

Another question then - are Testing repos in combination with BL stable enough per user experience, as long as I take sufficient precautions?

Horizon_Brave · 2016-04-05 16:51:15

I'm still very new to the linux world, but for myself, I wouldn't mix... I have one dedicated machine that I'll be using for testing. At the moment, I have a levy of Bunsen VM's, most of them are mirrors of each other, in Stable. But personally I'm of the mind to keep them separated. I wouldn't want to introduce anything weird in my stable releases.

AndyMender · 2016-04-05 19:44:12

I checked jessie-backports today and from the stuff I might actually need for development there is everything except for most recent Python3. Unfortunately, there are some very nifty features in Python3.5, which weren't yet implemented in Python3.4.

For the time being I'll stick to Testing (using -backports selectively for a lot of packages is rather troublesome and frankly unsafe) until it breaks painfully, thus convincing me that 'Debian Stable is the true Debian'. Case closed, thanks again for feedback .

Head_on_a_Stick · 2016-04-05 20:50:35

AndyMender wrote:

are Testing repos in combination with BL stable enough per user experience, as long as I take sufficient precautions?

No, not at all.

That combination is only recommended for those users who can tolerate gratuitous b0rkage at any time.

Let me be absolutely clear here: testing/unstable is designed to break, that is it's function.

#1 2016-04-05 07:14:06

[SOLVED] Testing or Backports repositories?

#2 2016-04-05 07:20:52

Re: [SOLVED] Testing or Backports repositories?

#3 2016-04-05 15:22:44

Re: [SOLVED] Testing or Backports repositories?

#4 2016-04-05 16:51:15

Re: [SOLVED] Testing or Backports repositories?

#5 2016-04-05 19:44:12

Re: [SOLVED] Testing or Backports repositories?

#6 2016-04-05 20:50:35

Re: [SOLVED] Testing or Backports repositories?

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