Debian 12.2 Released With Various Security Fixes, AMD Inception Microcode

[ThomasW]

I use Debian stable for my parents. Some tools like Browsers are uptodate via flatpak.
That the software is not doing major bumps is great, so they don't have to adjust too often.

[skeevy420]

Debian testing user here. You can configure apt with testing, unstable and experimental all together and set priorities. It's called apt pinning and what you get it's a debian that's more or less rolling release (except when they are at freeze). https://wiki.debian.org/AptConfiguration
Add deb-multimedia repos to the mix and see what you get.

The process you describe is exactly why I left Debian when I switched from NVIDIA to AMD. If that works for you, more power to you, but I didn't like having to spend a few hours every week reading the news, checking package versions, updating my pins and priorities accordingly, etc. At that point I figured I might as well run an actual rolling release distribution and just check their release notes before running a system update. It saves a lot of time and effort.

FWIW, I don't care for RHEL and SUSE for that same exact reason. When using an AMD GPU a person has to have the latest kernel and Mesa. If you play games on Linux, that kind matters a lot. IMHO, it's easier to use something that provides the graphics drivers versus something that requires manual intervention, pinning, and all that jazz.

[piorunz]

Just try out Debian testing (currently codenamed trixie) for any desktop use case: it is way more up to date with upstream than Debian stable, which is not intended for desktop use by the way, and maintainers can update their packages there with much more ease. I've been using a mix of Debian testing and unstable for some 20 years now and I never regretted it.

Debian Stable user here. Times when latest and greatest version of desktop software mattered, are a thing of the past. You don't need cutting edge packages to have image, sound, 3D acceleration, multi monitor configurations working reliably, tear-free gaming, good performance, good fonts, no bugs, list goes on forever. Nowadays, everything what you need for normal work on desktop computer, just works. I can vouch for that, I am not interested in Testing anymore, because Stable has become such a great experience.
And of course "old packages" is another myth. Everything what Debian Stable contains is either supported by Debian, by upstream, or both. Internet-oriented things like browser, e-mail, instant messenger, etc, are kept up to date and even updated with major version bumps, to make sure software receives upstream support. Worth mentioning is backports repository, where a lot of stuff is being kept fresh for Stable, for example Telegram or yt-dlp which I use.

[heliosh]

Times when latest and greatest version of desktop software mattered, are a thing of the past.

Yep, same here. Or maybe I'm getting old and don't feel the need all those modern things anymore. I use stable for many years now on the desktop.
If i really need a bleeding edge version, i'll install it from backports (or testing if dependencies allow it).

[mifritscher]

I use stable + when stable goes a bit older some packages from backports. Which is easy and I keep full control.

[sebastianlacuesta]

The process you describe is exactly why I left Debian when I switched from NVIDIA to AMD. If that works for you, more power to you, but I didn't like having to spend a few hours every week reading the news, checking package versions, updating my pins and priorities accordingly, etc. At that point I figured I might as well run an actual rolling release distribution and just check their release notes before running a system update. It saves a lot of time and effort.

FWIW, I don't care for RHEL and SUSE for that same exact reason. When using an AMD GPU a person has to have the latest kernel and Mesa. If you play games on Linux, that kind matters a lot. IMHO, it's easier to use something that provides the graphics drivers versus something that requires manual intervention, pinning, and all that jazz.

I just adjust pins for testing, unstable and experimental when installing (thing that happens once in several years depending on having new hardware). Then installing software is like this:

apt -t unstable|experimental install pkg1 pkg2 ... pkgN

No need to specify testing as this is my default (and I don't use stable on my desktops, my servers is stable only). Kernel versions are really up to date (again except on freeze times).

My /etc/apt/preferences.d/99pinning:

Package: *
Pin: release a=testing
Pin-Priority: 700

Package: *
Pin: release a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 699

Package: *
Pin: release a=experimental
Pin-Priority: 698

[Danielsan]

I have been using testing for ages, but recently I go directly for stable. I learned about myself that I can live even without the latest shining software.