Support ending for Debian Sarge

So just create a private mirror of all the Sarge packages, just in case, and use it until the end of time.

It's something I've often thought of doing, just to do it. Like having a mirror of Bo so I can install it once in a while to remind myself what it used to be like.

Isn't the point though that your sarge server will no longer get security updates? If you are running a desktop then it is less an issue I guess but then I would be inclined just to upgrade to etch.

> I would be inclined just to upgrade to etch.

Exactly. The only reason I can think of is some application that cannot stand running on the upgraded platform.

The "security updates" are most useful for desktop users anyway, since the greater variety of software used also means more opportunities for holes. Locking down a server, even running old software, "aught" to be sufficient to keep it secure enough.

I know I'm speaking in generalities here: Security updates are nice, but remote vulnerabilities are so rare that I would risk it.

Sarge won't go away. It'll still be in the Debian repositories. It just won't get any new patches.

Yup. And if you'd like to play with an old Hamm or Rex bos: http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive/

On the more futuristic side, Lenny's turning into Debian stable is "expected to take place before the end of 2008", as Sam Varghese quotes in his piece 'Next Debian release by year-end... maybe' at http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16309/1148/ According to Marc Brockschmidt in the latest Debian Release Update news, http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2008/03/msg000... Lenny stable will be officially dubbed Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 at its release time and may indeed contain the fully-working relase of KDE4.x. As Marc writes

Quoting:* KDE: There may be a possibility to include KDE4 in lenny. The efforts on KDE4.1 have been quite promising and seem to be leading to a desktop environment which can fully replace KDE3. The KDE team will provide betas and release candidates of the 4.1 release in experimental. Anyone interested is encourage to try them out and file any bugs found. In the event that KDE4.1 is on time, and there are no major issues, an upload to unstable in order to include it in lenny is possible. The actual decision has been deferred for now.

One of the repeatedly-asked questions is what exactly "on time" ever means in Debian development circles ?? Calender Q4 of 08 ? Q1 of 09 as Sam Varghese suggests (i.e., about a year from now)? Q2 of 2009 going into the Summer or later ?

On time? In their times, on time means, "When it's finished!"

Oh c'mon. Debian's reputation for long development cycles is totally undeserved. Just have a look at this chart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Debian_releases.svg

Only Sarge took really long. Etch was a lot shorter and Lenny is scheduled to be shorter still. And even Sarge was very quick compared to Vista.

Good point, Sander. Also different from the windows and other proprietary models is Debian (and other linuxes) release a continual stream of incremental improvements and fixes. So the final official release isn't such a big deal- it's just an official milestone, and the incremental improvements continue to flow.

TC: Not with Debian. Stable is always on feature freeze. You only get security updates and then a big whizz-bang upgrade when the next stable comes out. What you say is true for Testing though, as well as for other distros such as Zenwalk.

Oh yeah, feature-freeze is why I got bored with Woody- package versions got so old they made me sneeze from the dust.

Quoting:package versions got so old they made me sneeze from the dust.

Hehe - that was a good one, Carla...

> Yup. And if you'd like to play with an old Hamm or Rex bos: [HYPERLINK@archive.debian.org]

Well I'll be hog-tied. The last time I went looking, they were available but _only_ as source, not binary .deb's.

Fantastic! Maybe I will try, for fecal deposits and jocular expressions.