[kwlug-disc] definition of debian's "stable"?

[Andrew Sullivan Cant]

>From the Debian security FAQ:
http://www.debian.org/security/faq#oldversion

>The most important guideline when making a new package that fixes a security problem is to make as few changes as possible. Our users and developers are relying on the exact behaviour of a release once it is made, so any change we make can possibly break someone's system. This is especially true in case of libraries: make sure you never change the Application Program Interface (API) or Application Binary Interface (ABI), no matter how small the change is.
>
> This means that moving to a new upstream version is not a good solution, instead the relevant changes should be backported. Generally upstream maintainers are willing to help if needed, if not the Debian security team might be able to help.
>
>In some cases it is not possible to backport a security fix, for example when large amounts of source code need to be modified or rewritten. If that happens it might be necessary to move to a new upstream version, but this has to be coordinated with the security team beforehand.



The security FAQ also contains more details about when a package, in part or whole, will be backported into the stable release.


Andrew
IANADD (I am not a Debian Developer)  :)