Debian 2.2 Potato Is Stable

batsman was among the countless folks to announce that Potato is now Stable... i.e., Debian 2.2 has been released. The ISO is available, but I'm not linking (not because I'm an elitist (although I am) but to at least try to let the mirrors do their thing). No official word outside of mailing lists, but the 'stable' directory is now Potato. Congrats to all the ever slaving Debian developers... time to dist-upgrade those boxes that aren't already running woody! It's official now since the release is on Debian's site *grin*

Comments

No please!

[Anonymous Coward]

Not another potato powered server!!

I know what's going on....

[Bob the Destroyer]

CmdrTaco is just keeping everyone away by not posting the links while he gets prime download time....

at last!

[jamienk]

So now I finally get to experiment with the 2.2 kernals, October Gnome, XFree 3.33, and KDE 1.2 from the "non-free" section? RIGHT ON! I just hope they're stable...

:)

Re:Potato?

[flikx]

Sorry, apmd doesn't support potato power yet. Plus my laptop's bios will not utilize advanced tuber power, only Lithium-Ion technology.

Look for it in the next stable release, or maybe netBSD will support it.

I really like debian's release system.

[evilned]

Ok, there are gonna be alot of people bitching about how slow debian is on releases. Well, if you are gonna run a server, running the latest and greatest is a bad idea. With the long testing periods, when a release makes stable, you know damn well its stable. As for those who want to be on the bleeding edge, there is the unstable directory. I run stable on anything like a server, but on my personal machine, where I like to play with the latest Helixcode gnome, the unstable is great. Debian's release system give you the information so that you can make a somewhat informed decision on stability vs. being current, and I appreciate that.

Re:I really like debian's release system.

[timmyd]

most people don't run dselect. apt-get is the utility of choice for some. here is a small guide.

• add deb location and woody/potato to /etc/apt/sources.list
• type apt-get update for a list of packages
• type apt-get install program-name to install a program
• type apt-get remove program-name to remove a program
• type apt-cache search substring to search for packages
• type apt-cache show package-name to show info about a package
• apt-get upgrade to get all the latest ones

unlike dselect, apt doesn't fool with all the suggested packages and just gets the ones you need

Potato install guide

[Greg W.]

For those who are new to this, please start by reading the potato install guide. I seriously doubt that pre-burned CDs are available yet, but network installations should be possible.

The main web page (www.debian.org) still isn't updated, but we can't have everything, can we? ;-)

Re:Debian Team Bravo

[B.D.Mills]

Shouldn't that be "sticking to your gnus"?

--

One reason *not* to link ...

[Frater 219]

... is that Debian has sets of Web and FTP mirrors in eighteen different nations. If you are in Poland, for instance, you should be using www.pl.debian.org.

Re:One reason *not* to link ...

[/]

Hey, if you are in Poland, you're probably doing something else with potatoes anyway. ;-)

apt?

[nconway]

time to dist-update those boxes that aren't already running woody!

Uh Rob, it's 'apt-get dist-upgrade' . For those of you wondering what I'm nitpicking about, from man apt-get:

dist-upgrade

dist-upgrade,in addition to performing the function of upgrade, also intelligently handles changing dependencies with new versions of packages; apt-get has a "smart" conflict resolution system, and it will attempt to upgrade the most important packages at the expense of less important ones if necessary. The /etc/apt/sources.list file contains a list of locations from which to retrieve desired package files.

P.S. I love Debian, and I'm running it at home. Hmmm... last time I checked Potato was using Linux 2.2.17preX - is there a reason why the Debian developers felt it was necessary to release 2.2 now, even though it has an 'unstable' kernel. Are there some 'issues' with 2.2.16 that I should know about (of course, I run 2.4.0test on most of my home boxen, but I'm just wondering).

Re:Where do I get my CD image?

[Phil Hands]

That is REALLY STUNNINGLY UNHELPFUL

The box you link to is a P166, which is currently running at a load average of around 10 just dealing with the rsyncs from the mirrors.

Please moderate this moron to the nether reaches of hell --- Thank you.

useful links

[semis]

Full list of mirrors: http://www.debian.org/misc/README.mirrors

The (mirrored) official announcement from Martin Schulze: http://www.ids.org.au/ian/potato- announcement.txt.

Remeber, irc.debian.org (open projects) #debian, and #mashpotato for support.
And remember, before asking anything, '/msg apt install guide' !

Also, mark_, netsnipe, and raja have worked hard to bring you MashPotato (The Mobile Array of Support Helpers for Potato ), visit the website: http://www.linuxgiant.com/debian/

Enjoy!

Re:Not entirely true

[kronos]

Arguably the only valid testing is to get it out there and wait for problems to appear.

But the simple fact that the unstable (and the beta "frozen") distribution is available to anyone at all times takes advantage of this. Debian's unstable (ie., the cutting-edge branch) is being tested on an innumerable number of machines constantly.

The stable distribution is testing to almost ludicrous stability; home users and other non-"mission critical" users are fully able to run the latest bleeding edge. At work, we run potato exclusively (once it got far enough into the frozen stage). We can't have anything break, and a working system is more important than the latest toys. Toys are more important at home, so i run Woody :)

Debian's naming scheme

[rwg]

Going along with the Toy Story naming scheme, when can we expect the "Stinky Pete" release? (Say what you will about "Stinky Pete," but "Woody" is a release name only a pervert could love...)

WRONG, read the docs before you talk.

[Andrew Cady]

Now that's bad enough, but on top of that, the Debian system makes hell on users who try to install other software. If you happened to download a .tar.gz file and do the make / install yourself, the Debian installer had no way to let you update the dependencies. So next time you went and grabbed a .deb release, you'd end up overwriting the newer libs from your .tar.gz file. Simply brain dead. The Debian team needs to realize that people MIGHT just want to install software OTHER than what they provide. What a concept.

If you don't want dpkg to manage a package, you put the package on "hold". If you want to ignore dependencies, you use dpkg --ignore-depends=package

So like I said, read the docs before you criticize. Just because you don't know how to do something, does not mean Debian does not let you do it.

Excellent. When will woody freeze?

[RobotSlave]

I'm ecstatic about this news, because now my clients (as in, the people who pay me :) can run php4 on a stable debian (I've been tiding them over with apache 1.3.12+php built from source).

What I'm wondering now is when we can expect to see woody freeze. I apologize for not following the debian-devel list and picking up the debate on my own-- I'd feel like a creep lurking on the devel list for a project that I don't have time to commit to (Some day, debian, I will give back to you, but now is not the time... ).

My suggestion would be to commit to a freeze as soon as the 2.4 kernel is released. My simple-minded resoning is that Xfree 4.0 plus the new kernel should be sufficient reason to push a new stable release out the door.

I suspect that the issue has been discussed in much greater detail on the devel mailing list, and that there are many different schools of thought on the matter. I guess I fall into a hypothetical "updates to >n major packages warrant a new release" school of thought. I hold this view mostly due to frustration-- e.g., I was really upset when I learned that I could not build php out of CVS due to outdated gnu tools in slink.

But enough of my rambling. What we really need here is an update from someone intimate with the devel list. If there is consensus on when woody ought to freeze, what is it? If the matter is still being debated, what are the various viewpoints?

p.s. to debian weekly news: This is the sort of thing we would love to see covered, but I know Joey is spread pretty thin to begin with (perhaps because he's both very productive and quite tactful, to boot? ). Commentary from someone not intimate with the project might be welcome, as an addition to dwn, just as it might be unwelcome as an addition to the devel list.

p.p.s. to (lwn | dwn | linuxworld | linuxtoday) : If you're willing to remburse someone, modestly, to lurk and cover debian-devel, put a notice up on your site (or better yet, just drop me a line :).

MashPotato

[Netsnipe]

Hello everyone,

This is Andrew "Netsnipe" Lau from the MashPotato/B> Project,currently being hosted at LinuxGiant until Raja is well enough to move it over to SourceForge, who is hosting our project. Thanks semis for getting the post in early. Most of the crew are volunteers from the official #debian IRC channel at irc.debian.org. MashPotato's aim is to provide all users of Debian with comprehensive live IRC support and an ongoing website. Over the upcoming months, the MashPotato site will be loaded with the latest tips, guides and Debian news, but currently our priority is to help out new and old Debian GNU/Linux users getting a hang of Potato and Woody as well.
Here's an excerpt from a post that was made on the Debian-user mailing list:

We here at #debian, the official IRC channel of Debian have decided that when Potato 2.2 does officially become stable, that we will provide the most comprehensive Debian GNU/Linux support service that we can to users both new and old. However, being the official IRC room, #debian will be overwhelmed with literally hundreds of users seeking installation and configuration help. The task would be quite daunting for regulars there as we already handle several dozen help requests a day.
Hence, the Potato release now has a dedicated IRC tech support crew nicknamed the Mobile Array of Support Helpers for Potato (MashPotato) which serve around the clock for users around the world. To make things easier, we will also divert users to different channels from #debian to for example #mashpotato and #mashpotato-X, #mashpotato-sound, #mashpotato-gnome. However, we will be lacking in numbers of people to answer the multitudes of help. To sign up for the roster list for MashPotato, just come into #debian and type in "apt roster" for further details, and return over the next few days for more details. You don't need to be using Potato, but any Debian-based help provided will be greatly appreciated.

So if you've got any troubles whatsoever with Debian GNU/Linux, Potato or Woody, then hop into #debian or #mashpotato hosted on any IRC server that's part of the OpenProject IRC Network> and we'll be glad to help you.

MashPotato - Mobile Array of Support Helpers for Potato

Re:Excellent. When will woody freeze?

[joey]

The above post should be moderated up, and not just because it says nice things about me :-)

Anyway, we've discussed it less than you would expect so far. Common views include:

• We should get X 4, not wait for the kernel (which may not come out this year), and release then, probably as 2.1.1 or something.
  
• We should release with X 4 and the 2.4 kernel and an many updates as we can cram in
  
• Something else.
  

--

Use the mirrors. PSU's was incredibly fast.

[Wakko Warner]

I've already downloaded and burned all three ISO images. I got them at about 400K/s off PSU's mirror. You can get a list of all mirrors, most of which probably have the thing by now, here.

- A.P.
--

"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad

Am I missing something?

[Lion-O]

Everyone is talking about stable potato's. What ever happened to the "Joel 'Espy' Klecker" release (also peek at the Debian site? Is your memory (pointed at the posters in here who referred to Potato) really that short termed? Its not potato thats gone stable; its espy.

-Personal rant ON-
This makes me kinda sick. Even though I don't know Espy, never chatted with 'm and heard from him when he passed away, I really have a strange feeling after reading the /. story about his death and all the comments on it. Everyone sympathized yet no one is able to remeber the posting for even 1 month? Do a search on 'Espy' on this page and it turns out to nothing. Thats a strange way of showing that you sympathized with the going ons IMVHO.
-Personal rant OFF-

Re:Solaris bites with kimodo dragon teeth!

[Psiren]

Hmmm... does Linux support hot-swappable system boards? Does it scale well up to 64 processors? No and no. Comparing Solaris and Linux is a futile pastime. They came from different roots, and are meant for different jobs. Perhaps Solaris is a little slow on x86 machines, but Linux has the advantage that it has been developed specifcally on this architecturefor years. Most of Solaris's devlopment is geared toward running on high-end Sparc's, not lowly x86's.