[O/S] [SOLVED] How to stay on stable and avoid getting on debian testing?

[TerjeN]

Hello, sorry for the noob question, but I recently installed debian on my work computer. I dont know how it happened, but now it seems i am on "Debian GNU/Linux trixie/sid". I suspect it is because i added "non-free-firmware" or something to my sources.list, which now looks like this:

─────────────────────────────────
1 │ # deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 12.5.0 _Bookworm_ - Official amd64 DVD Binary-1 with firmware 20240210-11:28]/ bookworm contrib main non-free-firmware
2 │
3 │ #deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm non-free-firmware main non-free
4 │ deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free-firmware main non-free
5 │ deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free-firmware main non-free
6 │
7 │ deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security contrib non-free-firmware main non-free
8 │ deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security contrib non-free-firmware main non-free
9 │
10 │ # bookworm-updates, to get updates before a point release is made;
11 │ # see https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debi ... _backports
12 │ deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates contrib non-free-firmware main non-free
13 │ deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm-updates contrib non-free-firmware main non-free
14 │
15 │ deb http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/ buster main
16 │ deb-src http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/ buster main contrib non-free contrib
17 │
18 │ #deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
19 │ #deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ sid main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
20 │
21 │ #deb https://deb.debian.org/debian/ trixie main contrib non-free-firmware
22 │
23 │ #deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

My uname -a now says: Linux terje-workstation-debian 6.11.6-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.11.6-1 (2024-11-04) x86_64 GNU/Linux

Im wondering, if i reinstall, how can i make sure to stay on stable, (i guess that is "bookworm" ?) and not end up on testing.

Can i downgrade to stable or do i have to reinstall?

Suddently, nvidia drivers stopped working and i have problem installing nvidia-drivers again, and I suspect this is because of the debian version.

[wizard10000]

It happened because of the Trixie and Sid entries in your sources.list - they're now commented out but it looks like the damage had already been done.

Might be wise to check out don't break debian to prevent this in the future.

I'm afraid downgrading is not supported.

[TerjeN]

Thank you @wizard10000 very much for the link, FrankenDebian is what I ended up with, yes. Then I will reinstall after reading trough that, good learning lesson

[jmgibson1981]

If you simply must have packages from testing and unstable then try backporting them correctly by building against bookworm. https://wiki.debian.org/SimpleBackportCreation . Not a complicated process although some things may not build due to requiring new dependencies. Going down that rabbit hole could have you backporting a ton of packages and losing the "stable" that you have.

That being said I would advise you to look into distrobox and run your non current release packages in that instead of on the bare metal os. This will give you the best of both worlds with little risk to the base system.

[stevepusser]

And Buster had also joined the chat!

Code: Select all

15 │ deb http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/ buster main
16 │ deb-src http://ftp.au.debian.org/debian/ buster main contrib non-free contrib

[stevepusser]

If you simply must have packages from testing and unstable then try backporting them correctly by building against bookworm. https://wiki.debian.org/SimpleBackportCreation . Not a complicated process although some things may not build due to requiring new dependencies. Going down that rabbit hole could have you backporting a ton of packages and losing the "stable" that you have.

That being said I would advise you to look into distrobox and run your non current release packages in that instead of on the bare metal os. This will give you the best of both worlds with little risk to the base system.

Also check out bookworm-backports first, since you might just be duplicating their work.

I've also backported a lot more packages for the MX Linux main, test, and AHS repositories, and build most of those on plain vanilla Debian virtual machines to assure compatibility, so those are also worth checking out.

[sunrat]

I've also backported a lot more packages for the MX Linux main, test, and AHS repositories, and build most of those on plain vanilla Debian virtual machines to assure compatibility, so those are also worth checking out.

+1 for MX packages, I use a few and they work well on Bookworm. Stevo and the other MX packagers do a wonderful job. I often search MX repo for something if it's not in Debian repo or too old eg. current Audacity 3.6 and Mystiq video converter are 2 i use often.

[TerjeN]

That being said I would advise you to look into distrobox and run your non current release packages in that instead of on the bare metal os. This will give you the best of both worlds with little risk to the base system.

Thank you all for your comments, even for the one making fun of my buster usage which I found funny. I learn from these things! Especially thanks for the distrobox, this looks incredible useful. I have the same need of a setup at home and on work, and on work laptop, I guess getting into something like this would make my life easier and my host os more safer from accidental buster/trixie/sid frankendebians.

Will mark the post as solved, appriciate all the help.