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I'm not familiar with any evidence of that, but I'd like to point out that Debian unstable has a higher percentage of outdated packages than Arch.

Compare "outdated projects percentage":

- https://repology.org/repository/debian_unstable

- https://repology.org/repository/arch




Looking at that data, Debian unstable maintains roughly 3x more packages than Arch official.


That's correct, although "maintains" is questionable since Debian testing/unstable aren't meant to be used as daily drivers.


That's not how it works. Debian maintainers maintains packages from the very beginning of the process. They won't just wait until a package has entered stable.

Moreover, when comparing different distributions, it would make more sense to have a closer look at the release process rather than compare how they label their packages. Since Debian tests its packages for a longer period of time than Arch, Debian testing should be just as stable as Arch stable.


I think we're using the word "maintains" differently. Packages in Sid have no guarantees that they'll work, no security team, and no support system if you get stuck. Sid isn't meant to be used as a daily driver, and if your computer stops working that will be expected in Sid but a gigantic bug in Arch.

> Debian testing should be just as stable as Arch stable

Sure, but how up-to-date is Debian testing when compared to Arch?


> Packages in Sid have no guarantees that they'll work

Guarantee is a strong word. Can Arch guarantee this? Occasional breakage is bound to happen with bleeding-edge rolling releases.

> no security team

Weaker guarantees than stable, but that doesn't mean Debian doesn't handle security issues in unstable or testing. It'll be too late if they start dealing with security issues once a package enters stable.

> no support system

Actually, support is the same for any Debian release. https://www.debian.org/support

> Sid isn't meant to be used as a daily driver

That shouldn't matter much for people who're willing to use Arch as a daily driver.

> if your computer stops working that will be expected in Sid but a gigantic bug in Arch

A gigantic bug but still happens nonetheless.

> Sure, but how up-to-date is Debian testing when compared to Arch?

According to repology, Debian testing has twice the number of latest packages than Arch official [1]. Considering that packages of higher importance tend to be more actively maintained, I'd assume that Debian won't be significantly behind the latest release for packages that exist in both Arch official and Debian.

[1] https://repology.org/repository/debian_testing




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