this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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Question about moving from Ubuntu to Debian - Package updates and security updates...
On Ubuntu, I seem to get notifications almost every week about new package updates. (Through the apt UI)
On Debian, I don't see this.
I can run
apt updateandapt upgradeOn Ubuntu, I see this pull a bunch of package data from various package repo URLs.
On Debian, I only see this pulling package data from two or three repo URLs at debian.org
Mainly I am concerned about security updates and bug fixes. Do I need to manually add other repo sources to the apt config files? Or does debian update those repos regularly?
They’re updated regularly. Take a look at your etc/apt/sources on both. Debian has everything coming from their servers, Ubuntu has a bunch more.
If you’re going Ubuntu -> Debian be prepared to switch to testing or enable some packages from testing or even use an alternate install method for some software (yt-dlp).
Debian favors stability over anything else so the packages are thoroughly tested before release and then only upgraded for security issues, until the next release 2 years later when everything gets an update.
Ubuntu favors releasing more recent package versions constantly throughout the period between major releases.
You can install packages on Debian from the backports repo if you occasionally need an package to be a more recent version.
Another option is to install apps from Flatpak. The apps in Flatpak have their own separate dependency system and can be used on any distro.
If neither of these works for you and you find yourself constantly wishing packages were newer you may want to consider a different distro.
Some people switch their Debian from stable to testing to get similar updates to Ubuntu. You can try that but please understand you may experience the occasional issues.
Be wary of adding external repos (that don't point to debian. org) because they can mess with the package dependencies and prevent you from upgrading to the next version when it comes out. (This also applies to Ubuntu.)
I wonder, if you are asking two different questions:
For 1. it depends which desktop environment you use, Gnome/KDE have this update notifications out of the box, for other DEs (Xfce, LXDE, etc.) you might need to enable this with the installation of synaptic or similar.
For 2. Debian stable does not ship bugfixes but Debian stable ships security fixes. I highly recommend to subscribe to Debians Security mailing list, especially for security fixes concerning browsers and other stuff.
Edit: I have enabled automatic updates and I still receive regular notifications via Gnome Software, at least once per week.
Are you using Ubuntu Long Term Release or not ?