apt-pinning - Configuring Debian to run the latest packages

The first time I installed and tried out Debian Linux distribution, I was surprised by the different way of configuring it which included the placement of configuration files, the change in commands used and so on. Coming from a Red Hat background and tuned to the Red Hat way of doing things, I did have some learning curve to overcome.

But once I mastered how to configure things in Debian, I realised that I liked the Debian way of doing things much more than the Red Hat way. But one thing which really put me off was that Debian installed the antiquated packages of the software I use on a daily basis. And I needed something more recent. I explored how to install the cutting edge of software of my choice in Debian and I did get quite a few suggestions from various quarters including one of incorporating backports repository in the distribution.

But none told me about Apt-Pinning - the process of mixing and matching between stable, unstable and testing repositories to get a stable Debian distribution which also ran the latest version of ones software. And because I was largely unsuccessful in my endeavour of getting the latest version of software running on Debian stable, I switched to Ubuntu.

I recently came across this lucid tutorial written by John.H.Robinson called "Apt-Pinning for Beginners", which explains the process in very clear terms. If I had come across this tutorial earlier, I would still have been using Debian on my PC.