DEBIAN DEPENDENCY

If you have any contact with the Linux world, you’ll often hear praise about Debian’s stability, but why is this? What makes it so special relative to other distros?

The answer lies in the three different branches of Debian, all of which are regularly maintained.

The Unstable branch (which always uses the code name Sid) acts as the trunk, or development version. Packages can be approved by comparing how they affect the distro’s stability. They often contain the very latest software; although, of course, this may not function as expected.

The Testing branch is a preview version of Debian, which will become its next major release. With the advent of Debian 12, the current testing version is Debian 13 (code name Trixie). Software packages tend not to be the most recent versions and usually have had some testing.

Once a Testing branch is considered sufficiently stable, it’s frozen. During this time, any bugs are fixed and any obsolete packages are removed.

This process can take years and the Debian Project doesn’t restrict itself to a timeline before announcing a Stable release like Debian 12. These releases are only upgraded if there’s a major issue with security or usability, but this is unlikely given the extensive testing they undergo. Stable versions of Debian are typically supported for around five years after release.

Visit www.debian.org/ download to download the latest Stable version of Debian. If you’re feeling brave, you can visit www. debian.org/releases/testing/ to download the current Testing release.