Using Debian Testing

[KBD47]

I always use Stable for my mission critical machines, but thought it would be interesting to see how Testing looks as I haven't tried it in awhile. So far incredibly solid.
Anyone else using Testing, and if so, what has your experience been with it?

[Danielsan]

It is worth to use, you may have occasional issue often related with the Xorg and video driver stack. For example now Virtualbox is unable to create a module because is pending the switch to an upper version of mesa, generally in a couple of weeks this kind of issues are resolved.

[KBD47]

It is worth to use, you may have occasional issue often related with the Xorg and video driver stack. For example now Virtualbox is unable to create a module because is pending the switch to an upper version of mesa, generally in a couple of weeks this kind of issues are resolved.

Thanks. I don't use virtualbox, so that shouldn't be an issue for me. Will watch for xorg and video driver updates. May hold off on those a bit if they come.

[Wheelerof4te]

By using Debian Testing, you are beta-testing the next Stable Debian release. If you are fine with that, then by all means, use it.

[KBD47]

By using Debian Testing, you are beta-testing the next Stable Debian release. If you are fine with that, then by all means, use it.

Yes, I'm dual booting with Stable, so I'm not going to be surprised if something breaks on Testing. If it stays reasonably solid I may follow it into the next Stable. Mostly curious to see how usable Buster is and file bug reports if issues arise.

[dotlj]

As mentioned, it is helpful to participate in the testing of the next Debian stable.
As usual, there are changes from one to the next.
For example, Buster manages static IP addresses differently and updates DNS when using openvpn using systemd.

[cds60601]

I always use Stable for my mission critical machines, but thought it would be interesting to see how Testing looks as I haven't tried it in awhile. So far incredibly solid.
Anyone else using Testing, and if so, what has your experience been with it?

I switch between Stable and Testing often and to date, I can't recall an issue with Testing yet. That being said, the only "mission critical" things I do are pretty straight forward.
Firefox for browsing, Thunderbird for email, Inkscape for design work, Eagle Cad for schematic work (still use 7.7.0 even though I have the latest) and currently waiting on KiCAD to release v5 to move away from Eagle.

No major hiccups over the past 3 or 4 months so...

Cheers
Chris

[broelling]

I'm using a mixture of Buster and Sid, and it has been working almost flawlessly for about 6 months. Have only had one issue with nvidia-graphics which came from Sid - not Buster. But right now it just rocks with kernel 4.17.0-1-amd64...

[MALsPa]

I stick with Stable until a few weeks after the Testing freeze, then I switch to Testing. Been going that route for the last few releases. Then I stay with it as Testing becomes the next Stable, all the way until the next Testing freeze. Other than that, I've been using Arch instead of Testing or Sid, in dual- or multi-boot setups with Stable.

[Wheelerof4te]

^While Testing is frozen, you get almost no updates. Hard to imagine something like Chromium being outdated for 3-4 months for entire duration of the freeze.

[MALsPa]

^While Testing is frozen, you get almost no updates. Hard to imagine something like Chromium being outdated for 3-4 months for entire duration of the freeze.

Not a problem for me, as I don't use Chromium.

Edit: It's a good point, but the only concern here for me would be the web browser, and I don't really use any web browser from the Debian repos. I don't uninstall the default browser, but I almost never actually use it. Anything else that doesn't receive updates during that time, I don't worry about that. Anyway, that's just me. Other than that, I don't mess around with Testing.