Translation(s): English - Italiano
Point Releases
Even stable is updated once in a while. Those updates are called "Point Releases". They usually incorporate the security fixes released until the time of the update and fixes for grave bugs in the current release. They are prepared by the Stable Release Managers (SRM). As of February 2009 they should happen at about every two months. oldstable is subjected to a similar handling until it is end-of-life'd, although the periods may be longer.
Debian Etch 4.0r4 (name Etch and a half) was the first point release to introduce improved hardware support, through optional packages.
Current point releases
Squeeze:
- 6.0.5
Lenny:
- 5.0.9
Version scheme
Previously, the initial release had r0 appended, but normally omitted: for example Debian Etch started off as 4.0r0. Point Releases increment the digit after the "r" to specify a certain revision of a release with updates included.
As of Lenny's release, this scheme has changed. A micro version number is used to indicate the point release (e.g. 5.0.1). 1
Announcement of Point Releases
Point Releases are announced on:
the News section of the Debian website (look for distribution updates),
the debian-announce and debian-news mailing lists.
Details are also available in each repository, like http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/squeeze/ChangeLog (or http://ftp.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/ChangeLog for the oldstable distribution).
How to propose an update for a Point Release
First please be sure that a bug report exists for the problem. Secondly a patch should be attached to it. If possible the fix should be tested in unstable and testing first. However a patch often needs backporting to the older version in stable. If this is done it can be tested in the squeeze-proposed-updates suite, which is generally available to the public. Please contact debian-release@lists.debian.org about the bug with a debdiff of the proposed upload attached to the mail.