As a power user what problems can I face with testing?

[dasein]

If Debian Testing that scary wouldn't Arch bleeding edge more horrifying?

No one said Testing is "scary." Except you. Straw man, much?

[thanatos_incarnate]

Arch is more like Sid, also in the sense that errors are corrected more quickly, whereas in Testing they can linger on for a while until the fix in Sid is stable enough for the Testing release. Sometimes this can take a week, sometimes much longer.

Again, as many have said here before, the main purpose of Testing/Unstable/Experimental is to test software for a new Stable release. Depending on whether this is before or after the Freeze, developers might not be in a big hurry to correct bugs. This is different in Arch, as they only have one branch, with the exception of something akin to Experimental. Thus either your bug is ironed out pretty quickly, or users will help themselves by pushing fixes to the AUR. If you pester developers with bugs in Unstable or Testing and they don't have the time to fix them, they'll just tell you to use Stable. The stakes are different between Debian and Arch.

[Innovate]

If Debian Testing that scary wouldn't Arch bleeding edge more horrifying?

No one said Testing is "scary." Except you. Straw man, much?

Ask yourself.
I don't have any business with you.

Mor has been answered clearly long ago.

[eor2004]

I always get a mixed combination of replies when I ask people whether I should use a Debian stable or testing? I've been using Ubuntu and/or Debian since years and I want to switch to a rolling release instead of downloading a new distro and formatting my machine whenever a new "stable" release comes. I don't even want to use GNOME, all I want to use are these software packages:

1. xorg, xdm, openbox, lxpanel, network-manager.
2. firefox, thunderbird, libreoffice.
3. geany, glade, virtualbox, emacs, vim.
4. ssh client, mysql, postgresql, php, python.
5. evince, calibre.

If I switch to stretch and then be on a rolling release, say upgrading every 15 days or so, then will I generally have a stable experience with this setup?

Also, what are the security implications of using testing? I've heard that testing receives security-updates too late. For example, only yesterday [this](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11122377) vulnerability in glibc was declared on hacker news. How long for the patch to be developed and reach testing from now? And if I were a testing user, what should I do until that time?

@ OP: Hi, you say you have been using ubuntu and debian for years, but if you're asking this type of questions to me is very clear you have been using ubuntu, not debian, and that you don't know how debian works, if you knew how debian works you should know that testing breaks from time to time and sometimes it will be a PITA, and that you can upgrade to the new stable release when it is available by just changing your sources.list, I'm not mad at you, I just hate when somebody says that he or she is not a newbie and have been using debian/linux for years and truth be told, it is not the case!

[GarryRicketson]

@ OP: Hi, you say you have been using ubuntu and debian for years, but if you're asking this type of questions to me is very clear you have been using ubuntu, not debian, and that you don't know how debian works

+1
I am not a "power user" or whatever, but when I was considering Debian and trying to
decide what version I should use, I did a search " What versions of Debian are available ?" A long with the other versions the results also mentioned "Debian Testing"
So, The logical thing to do :
what problems can I face with Debian testing?

First hit: https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-choosing.en.html

One would think that someone that calls their self a "power user" would know how to do a search, and also would all ready know what problems can occur using a experimental
or "testing" version of any OS or software, not just Debian, I think I am glad I am just a regular user, and not a "power user".

[TonyVanDam]

Seriously, I've less problem with Stretch Testing more than Jessie Stable.
On Jessie I can't find the way to solve wallpaper reset itself every time I restart/shut down my pc on XFCE 4.10 session
On Stretch I've already fixed that XFCE4.12 workspace too long by just turn off the dual monitor.
Overall I don't have much problem with Stretch I used to have more living hell on Jessie Stable.

I also start to wondering why Debian unstable & Arch bleeding edges are treat so differently.
Arch ppl always boast about their stable & bleeding edge releases softwares.
If Debian Testing that scary wouldn't Arch bleeding edge more horrifying?

Arch is a lot closer to the level of Debian Experimental than Debian Testing.

[djwyman]

I run sid on an unimportant laptop with for the simple fact that I expect things to break...in fact when they do (they don't much oddly enough or at least not as big as some people here are making it sound) I consider it a challenge to figure out how to fix it and I don't consider my self a "power user", programmer, or any stuff like that...in fact in my professional life I am a Ford automotive technician. I just like learning how to fix stuff. I do like sid for the reason of it being newer software but like others have said if you want reliable stick to stable. I don't like the testing branch of Debian because it is behind sid so if something is messed up it can take time to get fixed.

[sunrat]

I'm a power user. My system takes about 350 watts.

[millpond]

I run sid on an unimportant laptop with for the simple fact that I expect things to break...in fact when they do (they don't much oddly enough or at least not as big as some people here are making it sound) I consider it a challenge to figure out how to fix it and I don't consider my self a "power user", programmer, or any stuff like that...in fact in my professional life I am a Ford automotive technician. I just like learning how to fix stuff. I do like sid for the reason of it being newer software but like others have said if you want reliable stick to stable. I don't like the testing branch of Debian because it is behind sid so if something is messed up it can take time to get fixed.

There is a third way.

For apps that are not integrated into the system, such as vlc or vuze or firefox, where bleeding edge may confer advantages (often they do not) - it may be best to get from developer page and install into /opt.

This takes them out of the distro and its update cycle. Which can be a good thing - as it allows for more personal preferences. I have the latest firefox here, but this is being written on my preferred Firefox 22 that lives in /Opt - and never has to worry about being overwritten.

Also, most problems with 'new' upstream releases should be solvable by backporting them.