Unstable (Debian)
Encyclopedia
In the Debian
jargon, unstable is the development distribution of Debian
. It is codenamed sid (after the boy next door who broke toys in Toy Story
). As unstable never becomes testing, this codename is permanent, contrary to the codenames of stable and testing, which have volatile codenames (for instance, stable is known as Squeeze, but was Lenny before Debian 6.0 was released).
unstable has some newer packages, but suffers from an unusually high number of serious bugs
, as many packages are new. In development periods, the number of bugs considered "Release-Critical" by the Debian project in unstable is typically between 2 and 3 times as many as the number in testing.
unstable is targeted at Debian developers for building packages to be uploaded to unstable, and other Debian users that know Debian well in general, master Debian package management, are good for reporting bugs
, want to help the Debian project, and have some machines on which they don't depend.
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
jargon, unstable is the development distribution of Debian
Debian
Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...
. It is codenamed sid (after the boy next door who broke toys in Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
). As unstable never becomes testing, this codename is permanent, contrary to the codenames of stable and testing, which have volatile codenames (for instance, stable is known as Squeeze, but was Lenny before Debian 6.0 was released).
unstable has some newer packages, but suffers from an unusually high number of serious bugs
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
, as many packages are new. In development periods, the number of bugs considered "Release-Critical" by the Debian project in unstable is typically between 2 and 3 times as many as the number in testing.
unstable is targeted at Debian developers for building packages to be uploaded to unstable, and other Debian users that know Debian well in general, master Debian package management, are good for reporting bugs
Debugging
Debugging is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware, thus making it behave as expected. Debugging tends to be harder when various subsystems are tightly coupled, as changes in one may cause bugs to emerge...
, want to help the Debian project, and have some machines on which they don't depend.