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<!-- retain these comments for translator revision tracking -->
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<!-- Original version: $Revision: 1.49 $ -->
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<chapt id="ftparchives">The Debian FTP archives
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<sect id="dists">How many Debian distributions are there?
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<p>There are three major distributions: the "stable" distribution, the
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"testing" distribution, and the "unstable" distribution. The "testing"
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distribution is sometimes `frozen' (see <ref id="frozen">). Next to these,
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there is the "oldstable" distribution (that's just the one from before
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"stable"), and the "experimental" distribution.
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<p>Experimental is used for packages which are still being developed, and with
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a high risk of breaking your system. It's used by developers who'd like to
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study and test bleeding edge software. Users shouldn't be using packages from
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here, because they can be dangerous and harmful even for the most experienced
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people.
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<p>See <ref id="choosing"> for help when choosing a Debian distribution.
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<sect id="codenames">What are all those names like etch, lenny, etc.?
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<p>They are just "codenames". When a Debian distribution is in the
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development stage, it has no version number but a codename. The purpose
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of these codenames is to make easier the mirroring of the Debian
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distributions (if a real directory like <tt>unstable</tt> suddenly changed
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its name to <tt>stable</tt>, a lot of stuff would have to be needlessly
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downloaded again).
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<p>Currently, <tt>stable</tt> is a symbolic link to <tt>&releasename;</tt>
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(i.e. &debian; &release;) and <tt>testing</tt> is a symbolic link to
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<tt>&testingreleasename;</tt>.
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This means that <tt>&releasename;</tt> is the current stable
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distribution and <tt>&testingreleasename;</tt> is the current testing distribution.
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<p><tt>unstable</tt> is a permanent symbolic link to <tt>sid</tt>, as
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<tt>sid</tt> is always the unstable distribution (see <ref id="sid">).
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<sect1 id="oldcodenames">Which other codenames have been used in the past?
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<p>Other codenames that have been already used are: <tt>buzz</tt> for
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release 1.1, <tt>rex</tt> for release 1.2, <tt>bo</tt> for releases 1.3.x,
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<tt>hamm</tt> for release 2.0, <tt>slink</tt> for release 2.1,
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<tt>potato</tt> for release 2.2, <tt>woody</tt> for release 3.0,
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<tt>sarge</tt> for release 3.1, <tt>etch</tt> for release 4.0, and
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<tt>lenny</tt> for release 5.0, and
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<tt>squeeze</tt> for release 6.0.
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<!--
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Enable when released (jfs):
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<tt>wheezy</tt> for release 7.0
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-->
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<sect1 id="sourceforcodenames">Where do these codenames come from?
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<p>So far they have been characters taken from the "Toy Story" movies by Pixar.
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<list>
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<item><em>buzz</em> (Buzz Lightyear) was the spaceman,
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<item><em>rex</em> was the tyrannosaurus,
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<item><em>bo</em> (Bo Peep) was the girl who took care of the sheep,
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<item><em>hamm</em> was the piggy bank,
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<item><em>slink</em> (Slinky Dog) was the toy dog,
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<item><em>potato</em> was, of course, Mr. Potato,
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<item><em>woody</em> was the cowboy,
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<item><em>sarge</em> was the sergeant of the Green Plastic Army Men,
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<item><em>etch</em> was the toy blackboard (Etch-a-Sketch),
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<item><em>lenny</em> was the toy binoculars.
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<item><em>squeeze</em> was the name for the three-eyed aliens.
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<item><em>wheezy</em> was the name of the rubber toy penguin with
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a red bow tie.
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<!-- SID should be the last line always -->
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<item><em>sid</em> was the boy next door who destroyed toys.
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</list>
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<!-- TODO
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Q: Should we add the trademark info here? Maybe as a footnote
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Mr. Potato is a Registered Trademark of Playskool, Inc.,
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Pawtucket, R.I., a division of Hasbro Inc.
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Slinky Dog is a trademark of Poof Products of Plymouth, Mich.,
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Etch-a-Sketch is a trademark of The Ohio Art Company,
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other characters might also be registered trademarks...
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(jfs)
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-->
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<!--
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more info in http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/ts/
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and http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/ts2/
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or
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Toy_Story_characters
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or better yet http://us.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Toy%20Story%20(1995)
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or actually:
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http://us.imdb.com/Title?0114709 for TS1
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http://us.imdb.com/Title?0120363 for TS2
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we shouldn't put the links in, Pixar needs no additional propaganda
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-->
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<!--
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characters not used from Toy Story (yet):
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- Andy (the kid)
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- Snake
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- Robot
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- Scud (Sid's dog)
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- Three Eyed Alien
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- Rocky (the wrestling figure)
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- Roller Bob (the remote control car)
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- Legs (one of sid's mutant toys)
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- Hand-in-the-box (one of sid's mutant toys)
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- Duckie (one of sid's mutant toys)
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and additional characters from Toy Story 2, also not yet used:
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- Al (the propietor of Al's Toy Farm)
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- Jessie (the Yodelling Cowgirl)
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- Bullseye (Woody's toy horse)
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- Zurg (the Evil Emperor)
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- Hannah (owner of Jessie)
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- Stinky Pete the Prospector (the old fat guy)
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- Mrs. Davis (Andy's Mom)
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- Barbie (the Tour Guide, probably under (c))
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- Mrs. Potato Head
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- Heimlich the Caterpillar
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-->
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<!-- (jfs) Just in case somebody misses the "What do we do when we finish
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with Toy Story characters" thread see:
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http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2002/debian-devel-200207/msg01133.html
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I, suggested we followed with either Monster's Inc or "A Bug's life" :)
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-->
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<sect id="sid">What about "sid"?
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<p><em>sid</em> or <em>unstable</em> is the place where most of the packages
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are initially uploaded. It will never be released directly, because packages
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which are to be released will first have to be included in <em>testing</em>,
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in order to be released in <em>stable</em> later on. sid contains packages
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for both released and unreleased architectures.
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<p>The name "sid" also comes from the "Toy Story" animated motion picture:
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Sid was the boy next door who destroyed toys :-)
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<p><footnote>
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<p>When the present-day sid did not exist, the FTP site organization had one
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major flaw: there was an assumption that when an architecture is created in
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the current unstable, it will be released when that distribution becomes the
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new stable. For many architectures that isn't the case, with the result that
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those directories had to be moved at release time. This was impractical
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because the move would chew up lots of bandwidth.
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<p>The archive administrators worked around this problem for several years
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by placing binaries for unreleased architectures in a special directory
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called "sid". For those architectures not yet released, the first time they
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were released there was a link from the current stable to sid, and from
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then on they were created inside the unstable tree as normal. This layout
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was somewhat confusing to users.
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<p>With the advent of package pools (see <ref id="pools">), binary packages
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began to be stored in a canonical location in the pool, regardless of the
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distribution, so releasing a distribution no longer causes large bandwidth
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consumption on the mirrors (there is, however, a lot of gradual bandwidth
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consumption throughout the development process).
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</footnote>
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<sect id="stable">What does the stable directory contain?
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<p><list>
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<item>stable/main/:
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This directory contains the packages which formally constitute the most
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recent release of the &debian; system.
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<p>These packages all comply with the <url name="Debian Free Software
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Guidelines" id="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">,
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and are all freely usable and distributable.
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<item>stable/non-free/: This directory contains packages distribution of
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which is restricted in a way that requires that distributors take careful
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account of the specified copyright requirements.
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<p>For example, some packages have licenses which prohibit commercial
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distribution. Others can be redistributed but are in fact shareware
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and not free software. The licenses of each of these packages must be
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studied, and possibly negotiated, before the packages are included in
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any redistribution (e.g., in a CD-ROM).
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<item>stable/contrib/: This directory contains packages which are
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DFSG-free and <em>freely distributable</em> themselves, but somehow depend
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on a package that is <em/not/ freely distributable and thus available only
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in the non-free section.
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</list>
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<sect id="testing">What does the testing distribution contain?
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<p>Packages are installed into the `testing' directory after they have
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undergone some degree of testing in <qref id="unstable">unstable</qref>.
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<p>They must be in sync on all architectures where they have been built and
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mustn't have dependencies that make them uninstallable; they also have to
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have fewer release-critical bugs than the versions currently in testing.
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This way, we hope that `testing' is always close to being a release
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candidate.
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<p>More information about the status of "testing" in general and the
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individual packages is available at
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<url id="http://www.debian.org/devel/testing">.
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<sect1 id="frozen">What about "testing"? How is it `frozen'?
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<p>When the "testing" distribution is mature enough, the release manager
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starts `freezing' it. The normal propagation delays are increased to ensure
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that as little as possible new bugs from "unstable" enter "testing".
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<p>After a while, the "testing" distribution becomes truly `frozen'. This
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means that all new packages that are to propagate to the "testing" are held
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back, unless they include release-critical bug fixes. The "testing"
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distribution can also remain in such a deep freeze during the so-called
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`test cycles', when the release is imminent.
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<p>We keep a record of bugs in the "testing" distribution that can hold off a
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package from being released, or bugs that can hold back the whole release.
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For details, please see <url name="current testing release information"
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id="http://www.debian.org/releases/testing/">.
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<p>Once that bug count lowers to maximum acceptable values, the frozen
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"testing" distribution is declared "stable" and released with a version
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number.
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<p>With each new release, the previous "stable" distribution becomes
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obsolete and moves to the archive. For more information please see
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<url name="Debian archive" id="http://www.debian.org/distrib/archive">.
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<sect id="unstable">What does the unstable distribution contain?
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<p>The `unstable' directory contains a snapshot of the current development
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system. Users are welcome to use and test these packages, but are warned
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about their state of readiness. The advantage of using the unstable
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distribution is that you are always up-to-date with the latest in GNU/Linux
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software industry, but if it breaks: you get to keep both parts :-)
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<p>There are also main, contrib and non-free subdirectories in `unstable',
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separated on the same criteria as in `stable'.
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<sect id="dirtree">What are all those directories at the Debian FTP archives?
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<p>The software that has been packaged for &debian; is available in one
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of several directory trees on each Debian mirror site.
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<p>The <tt>dists</tt> directory is short for "distributions", and it is
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the canonical way to access the currently available Debian releases
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(and pre-releases).
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<p>The <tt>pool</tt> directory contains the actual packages, see
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<ref id="pools">.
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<p>There are the following supplementary directories:
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<taglist>
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<tag><em>/tools/</em>:
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<item>DOS utilities for creating boot disks, partitioning
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your disk drive, compressing/decompressing files, and booting Linux.
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<tag><em>/doc/</em>:
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<item>The basic Debian documentation, such as this FAQ, the bug reporting
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system instructions, etc.
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<tag><em>/indices/</em>:
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<item>various indices of the site (the Maintainers file and the override
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files).
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<tag><em>/project/</em>:
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<item>mostly developer-only materials and some miscellaneous files.
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</taglist>
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<sect id="archsections">What are all those directories inside
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<tt>dists/stable/main</tt>?
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<p>Within each of the major directory trees<footnote>
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<tt>dists/stable/main</tt>, <tt>dists/stable/contrib</tt>,
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<tt>dists/stable/non-free</tt>, and <tt>dists/unstable/main/</tt>, etc.
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</footnote>, there are three sets of subdirectories containing index files.
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<p>There's one set of <tt>binary-<var>something</var></tt> subdirectories
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which contain index files for binary packages of each available computer
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architecture, for example <tt/binary-i386/ for packages which execute on
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Intel x86 PC machines or <tt/binary-sparc/ for packages which execute on
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Sun SPARCStations.
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<p>The complete list of available architectures for each release is available
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at <url name="the release's web page" id="http://www.debian.org/releases/">.
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For the current release, please see <ref id="arches">.
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<p>The index files in binary-* are called Packages(.gz, .bz2) and they include
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a summary of each binary package that is included in that distribution.
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The actual binary packages
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reside in the top level <qref id="pools"><tt/pool/ directory</qref>.
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<p>Furthermore, there's a subdirectory called source/ which
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contains index files for source packages included in the distribution.
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The index file is called Sources(.gz, .bz2).
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<p>Last but not least, there's a set of subdirectories meant for the
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installation system index files, they are at
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<tt>debian-installer/binary-<var>architecture</var></tt>.
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<sect id="source">Where is the source code?
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<p>Source code is included for everything in the Debian system. Moreover,
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the license terms of most programs in the system <em>require</em> that
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source code be distributed along with the programs, or that an offer to
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provide the source code accompany the programs.
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<p>The source code is distributed in the <tt>pool</tt> directory
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(see <ref id="pools">) together with all the architecture-specific
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binary directories.
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To retrieve the source code without having to be familiar with the
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structure of the FTP archive, try a command like
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<tt>apt-get source mypackagename</tt>.
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<p>Some packages are only distributed as source code due to the restrictions
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in their licenses. Notably, one such package is <tt>pine</tt>, see
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<ref id="pine"> for more information.
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<p>Source code may or may not be available for packages in the "contrib"
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and "non-free" directories, which are not formally part of the Debian system.
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<sect id="pools">What's in the <tt>pool</tt> directory?
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<p>Packages are kept in a large `pool', structured according to the name
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of the source package. To make this manageable, the pool is subdivided by
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section (`main', `contrib' and `non-free') and by the first letter of the
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source package name. These directories contain several files: the binary
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packages for each architecture, and the source packages from which the binary
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packages were generated.
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<p>You can find out where each package is placed by executing a command like
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<tt>apt-cache showsrc mypackagename</tt> and looking at the `Directory:'
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line. For example, the <tt>apache</tt> packages are stored in
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<tt>pool/main/a/apache/</tt>.
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<p>Additionally, since there are so many <tt>lib*</tt>
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packages, these are treated specially: for instance, libpaper packages are
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stored in <tt>pool/main/libp/libpaper/</tt>.
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<!-- joeyh doesn't want to maintain it so it's dead; need to integrate it
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If you want more information, see the
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<url id="http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/poolfaq"
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name="Debian Package Pools FAQ">.
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-->
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<p><footnote>
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<p>Historically, packages were kept in the subdirectory of <tt>dists</tt>
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corresponding to which distribution contained them. This turned out to cause
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various problems, such as large bandwidth consumption on mirrors when major
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changes were made. This was fixed with the introduction of the package pool.
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<p>The <tt>dists</tt> directories are still used for the index files
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used by programs like <tt>apt</tt>.
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</footnote>
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<sect id="incoming">What is "incoming"?
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<p>After a developer uploads a package, it stays for a short while in the
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"incoming" directory before it is checked that it's genuine and allowed into
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the archive.
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<p>Usually nobody should install things from this place. However, in some
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rare cases of emergency, the incoming directory is available at
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<url id="http://incoming.debian.org/">. You can manually fetch packages,
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check the GPG signature and MD5sums in the .changes and .dsc files,
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and then install them.
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<sect id="ownrepository">How do I set up my own apt-able repository?
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<p>If you have built some private Debian packages which you'd like to install
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using the standard Debian package management tools, you can set up your own
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apt-able package archive. This is also useful if you'd like to share your
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Debian packages while these are not distributed by the Debian project.
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Instructions on how to do this are given in the <url name="Debian Repository
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HOWTO"
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id="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/repository-howto/repository-howto">.
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