453
Debian used to be so good. What happened!? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by renzev@lemmy.world to c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world
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Firefox on Debian stable is so old that websites yell at you to upgrade to a newer browser. And last time I tried installing Debian testing (or was it debian unstable?), the installer shat itself trying to make the bootloader. After I got it to boot, apt refused to work because of a missing symlink to busybox. Why on earth do they even need busybox if the base install already comes with full gnu coreutils? I remember Debian as the distro that Just Wroks(TM), when did it all go so wrong? Is anyone else here having similar issues, or am I doing something wrong?

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[-] kuneho@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Debian was always like this.

[-] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Huh? Install testing or sid?

The Debian way is to install stable then change your sources.list to either testing or unstable.

I call shenanigans.

edit: what version was Stable using before 11Jun? 'cause it's 115.12.0esr-1 right now.

[-] Anonymo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You can try this:

https://siduction.org/

Even has BTRFS setup with Snapper (or Timeshift maybe) and nala is an option.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/05/siduction_2022_1/ Overview.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

Thats not a good idea unless you do a proper upgrade (dist upgrade or similar)

It is easier to use the testing iso

[-] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

the wiki must be out of date then

[-] mariusafa@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 1 week ago

Debian testing is complelty okay. If you want to have the most up to date security use apt to grab sid security updates. https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting

[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 1 points 1 week ago

I mean they can still be broken, especially if you mix Sid into it.

[-] debil@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

The fix comes to sid first. (Not counting experimental.) The right way to do it is to run mixed testing/unstable with apt-pinning so that nothing gets pulled from unstable unless spcifically requested.

That said, stable with Firefox from Mozilla's site and Neovim built from sources and gpack'd into deb package runs perfectly fine with much less hassle.

[-] akincisor@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago

I have been using unstable on desktop for at least 15 years. Every time a new stable was released that would cause a month of just staying off updates till things stabilized. Recently it's not even had that issue.

I've had to pin a package or two in that time, but unstable has been rock solid otherwise. I even run it on my server.

[-] muhyb@programming.dev 5 points 1 week ago

Ever considered LMDE? Best of both worlds if you ask me.

[-] 4grams@awful.systems 3 points 1 week ago

Someone after my own heart.. Debian for my servers, lmde for my laptop, the way it was meant to be.

[-] CrypticCoffee@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago

Or there is OpenSuse Tumbleweed which is up to date, and stable...

[-] prunerye@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 week ago

Stable, in this context, just means "point release". If you meant "doesn't break", that describes most rolling release distros.

...unless you've used KDE in the last month. Holy cow, just let me alt-tab into a fullscreen window without throwing a fit.

[-] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

Tried the Tumbleweed. It's anything but stable.

[-] CrypticCoffee@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

As someone who has used it for a few years. Incorrect. I had one upgrade issue (from KDE 5 to 6). Other than that. Smooth. For the Plasma upgrade, just change to default them before upgrade and upgrade from command line, not terminal window.

[-] jabjoe@feddit.uk 4 points 1 week ago

I've been on Debian Testing for my own desktops for about 15 years now. Sometimes as a Frankendebian mixing in SID/unstable. Sometimes mainly unstable, but mostly just Testing.

It rarely breaks, but when it does, it's a learning opportunity. Stable for servers and other people's desktops. Maybe with backports. Flatpacks if this no other option.

You don't get 100% solid and 100% new. Ever. With anything.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

A someone who worked in OS security, I beg you dont use flatpaks.

[-] lightnegative@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

As someone who works, flatpak's solve a bunch of problems, freeing me up to continue working.

Security issues are just a class of issue; no more or less important than other issues

[-] jabjoe@feddit.uk 2 points 1 week ago

As I said, "if this no other option". And to be honest, that was once, for a few weeks before the new KiCad hit Debian repos. And only because hardware team wouldn't wait to switch, so to open stuff, I needed it too.

[-] TCB13@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

What if you just get your browser using their own repositories or flatpak? 🌈

[-] ninth_plane@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I'm considering moving to Debian Stable plus Flathub for graphical desktop packages like Firefox, it works well on the Steam Deck. SteamOS also provides Distrobox which helps in some cases.

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[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

when i see a debian user i see a future fedora user

[-] lemmy_nightmare@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

When I see a Fedora user, I see a future Arch user btw

[-] AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

This is funny because on a laptop I had I did this exact same progression - I started on Debian, but it didn’t have the right kernel version for my audio drivers, so I switched to Fedora, but it was running slowly (probably because of gnome, it lets you choose so this was my fault) so I moved to arch (with xfce) because it has a reputation for being relatively lightweight. It worked better, but it took longer to get working with the unusual chromebook hardware.

[-] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

Man a laptop new enough to require a newer kernel but slow enough for gnome to be slow. That's an annoying spot to be man.

[-] AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

It wasn’t that new (2017), it just had weird hardware which iirc only recently got supported without proprietary drivers by the new audio system.

[-] nexussapphire@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago

That makes a lot more sense. I remember living with $200 laptops for a while and that's kinda what I was thinking initially.

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[-] MicrondeMMMMMMM@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 week ago

I don't have issues yet on stable 12.5 but I plan to switch to nixos eventually.

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this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
453 points (87.9% liked)

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