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Should I enable "testing"

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  Should I enable "testing" "J.Arun Mani" <J.ArunMani@protonmail.com> - 2020-05-09 10:10 +0200
    Re: Should I enable "testing" Andrei POPESCU <andreimpopescu@gmail.com> - 2020-05-09 10:40 +0200
    Re: Should I enable "testing" Jean-Philippe MENGUAL <jpmengual@debian.org> - 2020-05-09 12:20 +0200
      Re: Should I enable "testing" Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2020-05-09 13:40 +0200
        Re: Should I enable "testing" Peter Ehlert <peter@sdi-baja.com> - 2020-05-09 18:50 +0200
    Re: Should I enable "testing" Sven Hartge <sven@svenhartge.de> - 2020-05-09 14:30 +0200

#222309 — Should I enable "testing"

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Hi
Out of some curiosity, I enabled "testing" repo last night. So I my /etc/apt/sources.list looks like this:
```
# See https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList for more information.
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ buster/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ buster/updates main

deb http://deb.debian.org/debian testing main
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian testing main
```
Then I got some 1 GB of updates and I installed those. So far so good, but now I'm having a rest-less heart that I did something wrong. I feel like I should have stayed in "stable". This now troubles me.
The question is, shall I revert back to "stable"?
If yes, how can I do it? Possibly uninstall those new packages and downgrade to stable ones.

Please help me out
J Arun Mani

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#222310

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On Sb, 09 mai 20, 07:44:43, J.Arun Mani wrote:
> ```
> Then I got some 1 GB of updates and I installed those. So far so good, 
> but now I'm having a rest-less heart that I did something wrong. I 
> feel like I should have stayed in "stable". This now troubles me.
> The question is, shall I revert back to "stable"?

If you need to ask then probably yes.

> If yes, how can I do it? Possibly uninstall those new packages and downgrade to stable ones.

Downgrading of packages is not supported, even if it does work in many 
cases.

Safer options would be:

1. Find all packages that are newer and remove them, then install the 
stable version.

2. Reinstall

Or you could just stay with testing ;)

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
http://wiki.debian.org/FAQsFromDebianUser

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#222312

Le 09/05/2020 à 09:44, J.Arun Mani a écrit :
> Hi
> Out of some curiosity, I enabled "testing" repo last night. So I my 
> /etc/apt/sources.list looks like this:
> ```
> # See https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList 
> <https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList> for more information.
> deb http://deb.debian.org/debian <http://deb.debian.org/debian> buster main
> deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian <http://deb.debian.org/debian> 
> buster main

2 previous lines to be removed, now useless

> deb http://deb.debian.org/debian <http://deb.debian.org/debian> 
> buster-updates main
> deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian <http://deb.debian.org/debian> 
> buster-updates main

idem

> deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ 
> <http://security.debian.org/debian-security/> buster/updates main
> deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security/ 
> <http://security.debian.org/debian-security/> buster/updates main

idem

> deb http://deb.debian.org/debian <http://deb.debian.org/debian> testing main
> deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian <http://deb.debian.org/debian> 
> testing main
> ```
> Then I got some 1 GB of updates and I installed those. So far so good, 
> but now I'm having a rest-less heart that I did something wrong. I feel 
> like I should have stayed in "stable". This now troubles me.

Too late := Indeed you now are under testing intead of stable. You will 
have more recent packages and more frequent updates. In general testing 
works all right, but you are not as protected against potential bugs as 
stable, because testing is a repo for testing. And fixes come about 10 
days later, the time to be accepted and tested in unstable

> The question is, shall I revert back to "stable"?

No, would be impossible and catastrophic. Either re-install, or try 
testing now, could be good for you. Reverting a such big upgrade is 
impossible (or very difficult and unsafe)


> If yes, how can I do it? Possibly uninstall those new packages and 
> downgrade to stable ones.

Re-install

Regards

> 
> Please help me out
> J Arun Mani

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#222313

On Sat 09 May 2020 at 12:12:08 +0200, Jean-Philippe MENGUAL wrote:
 
> Le 09/05/2020 à 09:44, J.Arun Mani a écrit :

[Good advice snipped]

> > deb http://deb.debian.org/debian <http://deb.debian.org/debian> testing main
> > deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian <http://deb.debian.org/debian>
> > testing main
> > ```
> > Then I got some 1 GB of updates and I installed those. So far so good,
> > but now I'm having a rest-less heart that I did something wrong. I feel
> > like I should have stayed in "stable". This now troubles me.
> 
> Too late := Indeed you now are under testing intead of stable. You will have
> more recent packages and more frequent updates. In general testing works all
> right, but you are not as protected against potential bugs as stable,
> because testing is a repo for testing. And fixes come about 10 days later,
> the time to be accepted and tested in unstable

  deb http://deb.debian.org/debian testing main

I would consider changing "testing" to "bullseye". That way, when
testing eventually becomes the new stable, you will no longer be using
the testing distribution.

  deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian testing main

Unless you are building (compiling) packages, you could delete this
line.

> > The question is, shall I revert back to "stable"?
> 
> No, would be impossible and catastrophic. Either re-install, or try testing
> now, could be good for you. Reverting a such big upgrade is impossible (or
> very difficult and unsafe)

Staying on bullseye is not likely to be such a disastrous move.

-- 
Brian.

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#222315

On 5/9/20 4:30 AM, Brian wrote:
> On Sat 09 May 2020 at 12:12:08 +0200, Jean-Philippe MENGUAL wrote:
>   
>> Le 09/05/2020 à 09:44, J.Arun Mani a écrit :
>>
<big snip>
>> No, would be impossible and catastrophic. Either re-install, or try testing
>> now, could be good for you. Reverting a such big upgrade is impossible (or
>> very difficult and unsafe)
> Staying on bullseye is not likely to be such a disastrous move.
agreed.
I goofed a couple years ago. I intended to just grab a couple "newer" 
packages, but did not understand what I had actually done (migrated to 
Testing)
Being Lazy I continued using it. There were a few glitches, some things 
broke, but usually in about 6 to 8 hours another update fixed it.
It was OK, but annoying.

A month or so ago I did a full fresh reinstall. Life is Sweet! ... no 
more futzing around!
Personal choice.

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#222314

J.Arun Mani <J.ArunMani@protonmail.com> wrote:

> The question is, shall I revert back to "stable"?

At this point, the only sure way to downgrade to stable is via a
reinstall, because downgrading a package is not supported (in general).

Why is this?

While many programs don't store anything on disk that is version
dependent, this does not hold true for every one.

Image a tool "foobar-1.1.0", which stores some data in a file. Now a new
version is installed, "foobar-2.0.4" and during upgrade or the first
time it is run, it converts the data in the file into a new format that
the old version 1.1.0 cannot understand.

If you now dowgrade the package, you will get errors or worse, lose or
corrupt your data.

Similarly with some packages moving directories and files around during
the upgrade process. Downgrading them will not revert that move and the
older package will either operate as if no data exists or throw errors.

And even *if* after the downgrade of the installed packages the system
seems to work normally, you never know if there wasn't some subtle error
introduced which will catch up to you later.

During my now over 20 years of using and administering Debian and
Debian-derived systems unclean downgrades sometime during the lifetime
of a system was among the most reasons for future failures during
operation or upgrades.

TL,DR: So my advise is: Keep it as it is, just change "testing" to "bullseye"
so you will stay on the new stable release once it is released.

Grüße,
Sven.

-- 
Sigmentation fault. Core dumped.

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