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2: Debian: The Three-In-One Distro

If you've been poking around the Debian universe you've probably heard references to things like Woody, Testing, Stable and Sid. Some Debian users say they run Woody, some say they run Potato, some say they run Testing. Pretty confusing, what's it all supposed to mean?

The Release Scheme

One of the big strengths of Debian is that it uses a 3-tier release scheme. Most distros have a current numbered release (such as 'RedHat 8.0') where anything older is considered obsolete and anything newer is hard to access for non-developers. Debian, on the other hand, uses a rolling release system with 3 current versions plus a growing number of obsolete versions. It can be a bit confusing at first, so try to stay with me here! It'll all make sense in a minute, I promise.

Each released version is numbered and given a code name. The code names are characters from the movie Toy Story, and at the time of writing the releases so far have been v1.1 (Buzz), v1.2 (Rex), v1.3 (Bo), v2.0 (Hamm), v2.1 (Slink), v2.2 (Potato), and v3.0 (Woody).

The current released version is generally known as 'Stable', and the current stable at the time of writing is Woody (Debian v3.0). If you get an official Debian CD, it will most likely be Woody.

The current Stable release is the first of the three tiers in the Debian release scheme.

Then the next tier is the current pre-release version of Debian, which is generally known as 'Testing' and is essentially a continuously maintained candidate for what will eventually become the next Stable release. The code name for the current Testing is Sarge, which when it is released will be promoted to become the new Stable and will be given the release number 3.1.

The final tier is what developers refer to as 'Unstable', which is where all the hot action takes place. Code named 'Sid' after the destructive kid in Toy Story that shouldn't be let out of the house, it's where developers place new and updated packages for other developers and the more adventurous users to test and help debug. The Unstable release is not intended for serious use on production machines since it changes daily and is prone to package breakage while kinks are worked out. However, many people run Unstable on their main machines and find it's actually more reliable than other more popular operating systems!

One other special tier that sits to one side and shouldn't be touched by normal users is 'Experimental', which is where developers put packages that are still under heavy development and probably won't play nicely if installed on a system in use. This generally applies to packages that are undergoing major changes such as to a totally new file format, and are quite likely to cause damage to existing data if you install them. The packages in Experimental are only for users who really know what they are doing and are wanting to help test and debug the very latest bleeding-edge software.

So to sum it up, here's the current situation:

Version Code name Purpose
v1.1 Buzz obsolete Stable release
v1.2 Rex obsolete Stable release
v1.3 Bo obsolete Stable release
v2.0 Hamm obsolete Stable release
v2.1 Slink obsolete Stable release
v2.2 Potato obsolete Stable release
v3.0 Woody current Stable release
v3.1 Sarge current Testing pre-release
n/a Sid current Unstable development version
n/a Experimental dangerous pre-release packages

[explain how to choose]

Errata/Addendum: This is stuff I still need to incorporate into the main text, stuck here so you know it's not forgotten (and so I don't forget it!)