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+<html>
+
+<head>
+
+<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+
+<title>The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ - Getting and installing Debian GNU/Linux</title>
+
+</head>
+
+<body>
+
+<p><a name="ch-getting"></a></p>
+<hr>
+
+<p>
+[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">previous</a> ]
+[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ]
+[ 2 ]
+[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">3</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-software.en.html">4</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">5</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">6</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">7</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">8</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">9</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">10</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">11</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">12</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">13</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">14</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">15</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">next</a> ]
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h1>
+The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
+<br>Chapter 2 - Getting and installing Debian GNU/Linux
+</h1>
+
+<hr>
+
+<p>
+The official document giving installation instructions is the <code><a
+href="http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual">Debian GNU/Linux
+Installation Guide</a></code>. We'll give some additional notes about getting
+and installing Debian GNU/Linux here.
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2><a name="s-version"></a>2.1 What is the latest version of Debian?</h2>
+
+<p>
+Currently there are three versions of Debian GNU/Linux:
+</p>
+<dl>
+<dt><em>release 3.1, a.k.a. the `stable' distribution</em></dt>
+<dd>
+<p>
+This is stable and well tested software, it changes if major security or
+usability fixes are incorporated.
+</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<dl>
+<dt><em>the `testing' distribution</em></dt>
+<dd>
+<p>
+This is where packages that will be released as the next `stable' are placed;
+they've had some testing in unstable but they may not be completely fit for
+release yet. This distribution is updated more often than `stable', but not
+more often than `unstable'.
+</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<dl>
+<dt><em>the `unstable' distribution</em></dt>
+<dd>
+<p>
+This is the version currently under development; it is updated continuously.
+You can retrieve packages from the `unstable' archive on any Debian FTP site
+and use them to upgrade your system at any time, but you may not expect the
+system to be as usable or as stable as before - that's why it's called
+`<strong>unstable</strong>'!
+</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+
+<p>
+Please see <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html#s-dists">How many Debian
+distributions are there in the <samp>dists</samp> directory?, Section 5.2</a>
+for more information.
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2><a name="s-updatestable"></a>2.2 Are there package upgrades in `stable'?</h2>
+
+<p>
+No new functionality is added to the stable release. Once a Debian version is
+released and tagged `stable' it will only get security updates. That is, only
+packages for which a security vulnerability has been found after the release
+will be upgraded. All the security updates are served through <code><a
+href="ftp://security.debian.org">security.debian.org</a></code>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Security updates serve one purpose: to supply a fix for a security
+vulnerability. They are not a method for sneaking additional changes into the
+stable release without going through normal point release procedure.
+Consequently, fixes for packages with security issues will not upgrade the
+software. The Debian Security Team will backport the necessary fixes to the
+version of the software distributed in `stable' instead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For more information related to security support please read the <code><a
+href="http://www.debian.org/security/faq">Security FAQ</a></code> or the
+<code><a href="http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-howto/">Debian
+Security Manual</a></code>.
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2><a name="s-boot-floppies"></a>2.3 Where/how can I get the Debian installation disks?</h2>
+
+<p>
+You can get the installation disks by downloading the appropriate files from
+one of the <code><a href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/list">Debian
+mirrors</a></code>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The installation system files are separated in subdirectories of
+<code>dists/stable/main</code> directory, and the names of these subdirectories
+correspond to your architecture like this: <samp>disks-<var>arch</var></samp>
+(<var>arch</var> is &quot;i386&quot;, &quot;sparc&quot;, etc, check the site
+for an exact list). In each of these architecture subdirectories there can be
+several directories, each for a version of the installation system, and the
+currently used one is in the `current' directory (that's a symbolic link).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+See the <code>README.txt</code> file in that directory for further
+instructions.
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2><a name="s-cdrom"></a>2.4 How do I install the Debian from CD-ROMs?</h2>
+
+<p>
+Linux supports the ISO 9660 (CD-ROM) file system with Rock Ridge extensions
+(formerly known as &quot;High Sierra&quot;). Several <code><a
+href="http://www.debian.org/CD/vendors/">vendors</a></code> provide Debian
+GNU/Linux in this format.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Warning: When installing from CD-ROM, it is usually not a good idea to choose
+dselect's <samp>cdrom</samp> access method. This method is usually very slow.
+The <samp>mountable</samp> and <samp>apt</samp> methods, for example, are much
+better for installing from CD-ROM (see <a
+href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-dpkg-mountable">dpkg-mountable, Section 8.2.5</a>
+and <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html#s-apt">apt-get, dselect and apt-cdrom, Section
+8.2.2</a>).
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2><a name="s-cdimage-symlinks"></a>2.5 Why does the official stable released CD-ROM contain symlinks for `frozen' and `unstable'? I thought this CD contains just `stable'!</h2>
+
+<p>
+Official Debian CD images indeed contain symlinks like:
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+ /dists/frozen -&gt; sarge/
+ /dists/stable -&gt; sarge/
+ /dists/testing -&gt; sarge/
+ /dists/unstable -&gt; sarge/
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+so that they work when your sources.list has an entry like
+</p>
+
+<pre>
+ deb cdrom:[&lt;name as on cd label&gt;]/ unstable main [...]
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fact these symlinks are present does <em>not</em> mean the image is
+`unstable' or `testing' or anything. Read the CD label in
+<code>/.disk/info</code> to find out which Debian version it contains. This
+information is also present in <code>/README.txt</code> on the CD.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Read <code><a
+href="http://www.debian.org/releases/">http://www.debian.org/releases/</a></code>
+to find out what the current `stable' and `testing' releases are.
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2><a name="s-cdimages"></a>2.6 I have my own CD-writer, are there CD images available somewhere?</h2>
+
+<p>
+Yes. To make it easier for CD vendors to provide high quality disks, we
+provide the <code><a href="http://cdimage.debian.org/">Official CD
+images</a></code>.
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2><a name="s-floppy"></a>2.7 Can I install it from a pile of floppy disks?</h2>
+
+<p>
+First of all, a warning: whole Debian GNU/Linux is way too large to be
+installed from media as small as a standard 1.44MB floppy disk - you may not
+find installing from floppies a very pleasant experience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Copy the Debian packages onto formatted floppy disks. Either a DOS, the native
+Linux &quot;ext2&quot;, or the &quot;minix&quot; format will do; one just has
+to use a mount command appropriate to the floppy being used.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Using floppy disks has these complications:
+</p>
+<ul>
+<li>
+<p>
+Short MS-DOS file names: If you are trying to place Debian package files onto
+MS-DOS formatted disks, you will find that their names are generally too long,
+and do not conform to the MS-DOS 8.3 filename limitation. To overcome this,
+you would have to use VFAT formatted disks, since VFAT supports longer file
+names.
+</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+<ul>
+<li>
+<p>
+Large file sizes: Some packages are larger than 1.44 MBytes, and will not fit
+onto a single floppy disk. To solve this problem, use the dpkg-split tool (see
+<a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html#s-dpkg-split">dpkg-split, Section 7.1.5.2</a>),
+available in the <samp>tools</samp> directory on <code><a
+href="http://www.debian.org/mirror/list">Debian mirrors</a></code>.
+</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+You must have support in the kernel for floppy disks in order to read and write
+to floppy disk; most kernels come with floppy drive support included in them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To mount a floppy disk under the mount point <samp>/floppy</samp> (a directory
+which should have been created during installation), use:
+</p>
+<ul>
+<li>
+<pre>
+ mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /floppy/
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+if the floppy disk is in drive A: and has an MS-DOS file system,
+</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+<ul>
+<li>
+<pre>
+ mount -t msdos /dev/fd1 /floppy/
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+if the floppy disk is in drive B: and has an MS-DOS file system,
+</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+<ul>
+<li>
+<pre>
+ mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /floppy/
+</pre>
+
+<p>
+if the floppy disk is in drive A: and has an ext2 (i.e., a normal Linux) file
+system.
+</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr>
+
+<h2><a name="s-remoteinstall"></a>2.8 Can I get and install Debian directly from a remote Internet site?</h2>
+
+<p>
+Yes. You can boot the Debian installation system from a set of files you can
+download from our FTP site and its mirrors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+You can download a small CD image file, create a bootable CD from it, install
+the basic system from it and the rest over the network. For more information
+please see <code><a
+href="http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/">http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/</a></code>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+You can also download even smaller floppy disk image files, create bootable
+diskettes from them, start the installation procedure and get the rest of
+Debian over the network. For more information, please see <code><a
+href="http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst">http://www.debian.org/distrib/floppyinst</a></code>.
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<p>
+[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">previous</a> ]
+[ <a href="index.en.html#contents">Contents</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-basic_defs.en.html">1</a> ]
+[ 2 ]
+[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">3</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-software.en.html">4</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-ftparchives.en.html">5</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-pkg_basics.en.html">6</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-pkgtools.en.html">7</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-uptodate.en.html">8</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-kernel.en.html">9</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-customizing.en.html">10</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-support.en.html">11</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-contributing.en.html">12</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-redistrib.en.html">13</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-nexttime.en.html">14</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html">15</a> ]
+[ <a href="ch-compat.en.html">next</a> ]
+</p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<p>
+The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
+</p>
+
+<address>
+version 3.1.3, 25 April 2006<br>
+<br>
+Authors are listed at <a href="ch-faqinfo.en.html#s-authors">Debian FAQ Authors</a><br>
+<br>
+</address>
+<hr>
+
+</body>
+
+</html>
+