do I understand this correctly?

Sun Jan 4 08:31:56 MST 2015

Michael,

Please see the references for more information.

(https://www.debian.org/releases/)
Debian always has at least three releases in active maintenance: "stable",
"testing" and "unstable".

stable
    The "stable" distribution contains the latest officially released
distribution of Debian.
    This is the production release of Debian, the one which we primarily
recommend using.
    The current "stable" distribution of Debian is version 7, codenamed
wheezy. It was initially released as version 7.0 on May 4th, 2013 and its
latest update, version 7.7, was released on October 18th, 2014.

testing
    The "testing" distribution contains packages that haven't been accepted
into a "stable" release yet, but they are in the queue for that. The main
advantage of using this distribution is that it has more recent versions of
software.
    See the Debian FAQ for more information on what is "testing" and how it
becomes "stable".
    The current "testing" distribution is jessie.

unstable
    The "unstable" distribution is where active development of Debian
occurs. Generally, this distribution is run by developers and those who
like to live on the edge.
    The "unstable" distribution is called sid.

There is also an experimental branch for some packages -
(https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-ftparchives.en.html)
Experimental is used for packages which are still being developed, and with
a high risk of breaking your system. It's used by developers who'd like to
study and test bleeding edge software. Users shouldn't be using packages
from here, because they can be dangerous and harmful even for the most
experienced people.

Mark

On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 1:18 AM, Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> thanks.....
>
> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 1:09 AM, Patrick Callahan <patrick.pxc.c at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Yeah. Unstable means just means little or no testing downstream from the
>> maintainers of the software packaged. Software found in Debian unstable is
>> generally not beta software, but considered a 'stable' release upstream.
>> On Jan 4, 2015 1:06 AM, "Michael Havens" <bmike1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> is this the correct understanding  apt-get's stable/testing/unstable?
>>> If I'm wrong could you teach me?
>>>
>>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jan 4, 2015 at 12:27 AM, Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Is it correct that with apt-get unstable refers to the amount of
>>>> testing done with the system? I do not think it refers the alfa/beta status
>>>> of the program.
>>>>
>>>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 1:43 PM, Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> to the mint forums I go! Thanks for your help Mark. I'll post what I
>>>>> find out there after I hear back from them.
>>>>>
>>>>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 12:12 PM, Mark Phillips <
>>>>> mark at phillipsmarketing.biz> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Jan 3, 2015 11:14 AM, "Michael Havens" <bmike1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > so then, <version> is just for lower than the version that are in
>>>>>> the apt-cache.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Actually, the version you want has to be in your sources.list.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> glad I'm talking to you all about this because I just discovered that
>>>>>> after you run <package>=<version> you need to run :
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > sudo echo “package hold” | sudo dpkg –set-selections
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Only if you don't want the package upgraded at the next apt-get
>>>>>> upgrade.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > I also discovered that to find the versions in the repository you
>>>>>>  run:
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > apt-cache showpkg packagename
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > so is there no way to force a version into apt-cache?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The sources.list just says where to find a package. Sort of like a
>>>>>> big phone book...if you don't have the white pages for Ajo, you can't find
>>>>>> your friend's phone number who lives in Ajo. Once you get the Ajo book, you
>>>>>> have access to everyone's phone number in Ajo, but you are only interested
>>>>>> in your friend's number.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Pinning tells apt to only use the 2011 edition of the Ajo phone book
>>>>>> to look up your friend's phone number, even though you now subscribe to the
>>>>>> latest version of the Ajo phone book. You still have all the latest phone
>>>>>> numbers on hand, which does not impact your selection of the 2011 phone
>>>>>> number for your friend's phone number.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I just tried to force the installation of the unstable version of the
>>>>>> package (sudo apt-get install kmymoney/unstable) but it seems as if it
>>>>>> isn't called 'unstable' in mint (ubuntu). Am I doing it wrong? What are the
>>>>>> Archives called in Mint (ubuntu)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sorry, I have never used mint. Just a long time Debian user who
>>>>>> recently switched to Ubuntu for my desktop with my new laptop...It came
>>>>>> pre-installed. ;-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mark
>>>>>>
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 10:32 AM, Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >> help immensely. Thank you Mark.
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >> On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 9:08 AM, Mark Phillips <
>>>>>> mark at phillipsmarketing.biz> wrote:
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>> Michael,
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>> If all you have is the stable branch in your sources.list, then
>>>>>> you won't have access to any of the testing packages, even if you specify
>>>>>> testing on the command line with apt-get. apt-get has to know where to find
>>>>>> the package you want to download, which is why sources.list exists. If you
>>>>>> want to be able to install both testing and stable packages, then you have
>>>>>> to have both stable and testing branches listed in your sources.list.
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>> If you want to hold a package to a specific version or branch
>>>>>> (stable, testing, experimental), then you can "pin" that package to that
>>>>>> version, and all future updates will only use that version. Take a look at
>>>>>> http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html. However, you still
>>>>>> have to have the correct repositories listed in sources.list, and you have
>>>>>> to run an apt-get upgrade to update the local cache so the OS knows where
>>>>>> to find the packages you want.
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>> Hope that helps!
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>> Mark
>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>> On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 1:02 AM, Michael Havens <bmike1 at gmail.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> >>>>
>>>>>> >>>> A specific version of a package can be selected for installation
>>>>>> by
>>>>>> >>>> following the package name with an equals (=) and the version of
>>>>>> the package to select. This will cause that version to be located and
>>>>>> selected for install. Alternatively, a specific distribution can be
>>>>>> selected by following the package name with a slash (/) and the version of
>>>>>> the distribution or the Archive name (i.e. stable, testing, unstable).
>>>>>> >>>>
>>>>>> >>>> source: http://linux.die.net/man/8/apt-get
>>>>>> >>>>
>>>>>> >>>>
>>>>>> >>>> So this is saying to me you don't need the PPA to install the
>>>>>> latest version but can instead do:
>>>>>> >>>> <package>=<version>
>>>>>> >>>>
>>>>>> >>>> If that is so we don't need to add PPAs to our systems. IN other
>>>>>> words PPAs are just a way to make it so that we are always running the
>>>>>> latest version of the package regardless of if it works whereas we choose
>>>>>> what we want to run with:
>>>>>> >>>> <package>=<version>
>>>>>> >>>> That is very Linuxy of them!
>>>>>> >>>> :-)~MIKE~(-:
>>>>>> >>>>
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>>>>>> >>>
>>>>>> >>>
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>>>>>> >>
>>>>>> >
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
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