Debian 11 Is Releasing This Weekend With Many Improvements

[Brisse]

That'd be nice, if it would work. If I add the experimental repo to Debian Stable and issue your command, it says it can't update Mesa because it's going to break a lot of packages.

Like SkyWarrior said, you want to do this when already on unstable or maybe on testing, but stable is so old that you're going to run into incompatibilities. Good thing apt is aware and stops you from making mistakes.

[mppix]

Add these lines to your sources.list:

deb http://ftp.se.debian.org/debian/ experimental main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.se.debian.org/debian/ experimental main contrib non-free

Preferably swap the 'se' country codes for whatever server is closest to you, and delete 'non-free' if you don't need it.

Now run:

sudo apt update

And to install latest Mesa:

sudo apt -t experimental install libd3dadapter9-mesa libegl-mesa0 libegl1-mesa libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-glx libglapi-mesa libglu1-mesa libglx-mesa0 mesa-va-drivers mesa-vdpau-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers

Put it in a bash script for future use if you find those package names difficult to remember. You can also pull in a more recent kernel, or any other package from experimental using the same method if you want.

Quoting the Debian FAQ:"project/experimental/: This directory contains packages and tools which are still being developed, and are still in the alpha testing stage. Users shouldn't be using packages from here, because they can be dangerous and harmful even for the most experienced people."

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianExperimental

Use Debian sid (unstable) if you like the bleeding edge (usually makes for an eventful life). Please don't recommend the use of experimental outside of development/testing purposes.

[Brisse]

Quoting the Debian FAQ:"project/experimental/: This directory contains packages and tools which are still being developed, and are still in the alpha testing stage. Users shouldn't be using packages from here, because they can be dangerous and harmful even for the most experienced people."

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianExperimental

Use Debian sid (unstable) if you like the bleeding edge (usually makes for an eventful life). Please don't recommend the use of experimental outside of development/testing purposes.

Good point and certainly worth mention.

Still, I find it a useful trick during freeze periods.

[Brisse]

Oh boy. Time to get some popcorn.

[Alexmitter]

Debian is among the most outdated/lazy Linux distributions in existence. For example:

• Debian 10 (current): Xfce 4.12 (released 2015-02-28)
• Debian 11 (to be released): Xfce 4.16

Wait what??? Stable Debian releases does not update to new releases but only backport fixes?! The AUDACITY.

You should demand the manager of Debian and then talk with him about that.

And yes, please, ask me if I felt superior writing that.

[piorunz]

Thanks Debian devs!!! I ♥ Debian.

[mppix]

Good point and certainly worth mention.

Still, I find it a useful trick during freeze periods.

In general, Debian sid should still update during freeze but package managers may keep packages in experimental to prevent a sid from breaking (and taking up their time in fixing it as opposed to work on the release).

[sdack]

I feel superior reading this thread, but feelings are fleeting. Also, good job for pointing out the details on Debian! +1

[kgardas]

First Debian I ran was 7 Wheezy, man I feel old....

My first debian was bo. How shall I feel? :-)

[szymon_g]

Wait what??? Stable Debian releases does not update to new releases but only backport fixes?! The AUDACITY.

aye, let's random developers add their 3 cents to the projects abandoned by its creators (who are already focused on a version two major released fresher) and add their own patches to it. I'm sure it improves security (like ssl) and causes no friction with the original developers (firefox)