[NCLUG] Debian Question

[Matt Taggart]

>   1. After a Debian release goes to Stable, it only stops getting
>   software version updates to keep it current -- it only gets security
>   updates.  FreeBSD releases get software updates for currency as well as
>   security throughout their lifetime for software in the ports system
>   (because the ports system and the base system are not handled the same
>   way by FreeBSD).

FYI there are a couple ways to solve this in Debian. 

1.) backports of newer versions to run on stable.
http://backports.org

2.) The Debian volatile archive, for packages that need regular 
non-security upgrades to be useful, like spam and virus filters for example
http://www.debian.org/volatile/

>   2. With FreeBSD, it tends to be less prone to stability issues if you
>   upgrade some software versions but not others, so if you want to freeze
>   versions for particular ports for compatibility purposes it shouldn't
>   affect the stability of the rest of your system except in extreme
>   edge-cases.  This is a side-effect of being a source-based system,
>   rather than a binary-based system -- which has its own benefits and
>   detriments, depending on your needs.

You can do this in Debian too by putting packages "on hold". Once you put 
something on hold, apt will refuse to upgrade it or anything that depends 
on a newer version of it. This is super useful when tracking unstable, if 
you hear people are having issues with the new version of something, you 
can put yours on hold but still upgrade the rest of the system. I used to 
use this a lot with mozilla/galeon when those were in their teenage years. 
You can use dpkg, dselect, or aptitude to put things on "hold".

-- 
Matt Taggart
matt at lackof.org