The bo-unstable directory stores packages which are taken from the current unstable distribution (aka hamm) but compiled to work with Debian 1.3.1 (aka bo). This has become necessary since "hamm" uses a different version of the "libc" so partial upgrades from "bo" to "unstable" are nearly impossible. The packages in bo-unstable are provided as extra service for our users who need newer versions of some packages or who want to help testing newer packages (but don't have a possibility to run a full "unstable" system). There is no seperation of free and non-free packages in bo-unstable. ********************************************************* * WARNING! The packages in bo-unstable are even more * * unstable than the packages in "unstable", since * * they are not used by that many people. * * * * The Debian developers do not make any attempts * * to test these packages! USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! * ********************************************************* Every Debian maintainer is free to upload bo-unstable versions of his packages, but no one is forced to do so. (The distribution should simply be `bo-unstable'.) Maintainers are free to ignore and close any bug reports against bo-unstable versions of their packages without further comments. Debian maintainers may also release bo-unstable versions of someone else's packages after following the usual procedure for interim releases, that is, contacting the maintainer or the debian-devel mailing list about the intention to release a bo-unstable package and waiting for an acknowledgement. It is important that bo-unstable packages use version numbers that are different from "bo" and "hamm" packages. In addition, upgrades from "bo" to "bo-unstable" and "bo-unstable" to "hamm" should be possible at any time. Therefore, the following versioning scheme has to be used for bo-unstable packages: bo-unstable hamm last bo package 1.2-4 --- old package 1.2-4bo5 1.2-5 new package 1.2-4bo6 1.2-6 newer package 1.2-4bo7 1.2-7 non-maintainer 1.2-4bo7.1 1.2-7.1 new package 1.3-0bo1 1.3-1 newer package 1.3-0bo2 1.3-2 non-maintainer 1.3-0bo2.1 1.3-2.1 That is, bo-unstable version numbers use the revision of the latest package in "bo", concatenated with "bo" and the Debian revision of the corresponding package in "hamm". In case of a new upstream version in "hamm", the version number is taken from the new "hamm" version with Debian revision 0, concatenated with "bo" and the Debian revision of the "hamm" package.