[vox] A Criticism of Debian Testing

[Bob Scofield]

I realize that criticisms of Debian are unusual, but what the heck.

One of the greatest reasons to use Debian is claimed to be its great package 
management system.  I agree with this.  And at my relatively low level of 
computer expertise I have to say that Apt is what I like best about Debian 
(aside from its Social Contract).

It seems that the greatest benefit of Apt comes in Debian's testing version.  
That's because things like Open Office, Firefox, KDE, etc. are continually 
being updated.  And unlike the case with the stable version, this updating 
never stops.

But there is a big downside for this otherwise wonderful updating in testing.  
It is the fact that some of my favorite applications get removed in the 
upgrading process.  Examples are K3b and Digikam.  K3b just disappeared when 
KDE was upgraded from 3.3 to 3.4.  I don't know when I lost Digikam, but I 
assume it went during the KDE upgrade.

Digikam, and I believe K3b also, are available for both the stable and 
unstable versions, but not testing.  I assume that these programs will move 
from unstable to testing, but it is irritating to say the least to see these 
programs simply disappear from one's computer.

Bob