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I had difficulty searching for this answer on google and debian documentation!

The FAQ page wasnt very clear either. I mean it wasnt 100% idiot-proof clear.
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting

sccott
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    If you want idiot-proof, don't use testing repos! – ceejayoz Nov 05 '13 at 17:23
  • It's as idiot proof as Googling is. Considering this question dates back to the origins of modern Debian it has been asked pretty frequently. [A quick](http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ch-choosing.en.html‎) [Google](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10915232/debian-sources-list-for-testing-what-to-change) [search](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/articles/upgrading-debian-to-unstable) [gives](http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=810742) [the](http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=84543) [answer](http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-upgrade-debian-squeeze-to-wheezy) – Michael Pobega Nov 05 '13 at 17:58
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    You had difficulty finding it in the Debian documentation because you are not supposed to do it. – Keith Nov 07 '13 at 21:29
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    @MichaelPobega: The fact that the question has been asked frequently automatically implies that the FAQ page is grossly insufficient for such a simple operation. I took some time to find the answer online so I posted the answer myself. – sccott Feb 17 '14 at 04:37

1 Answers1

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"testing" repo makes new updated packages available to the user (ie apt-get or synaptic) which would otherwise come in the next Debian release.

Caution: testing packages may not be the most stable packages, but it is more stable than the "unstable" repo.

  1. Login as root Open file /etc/apt/sources.list in your favourite editor

    vi /etc/apt/sources.list

  2. Adding the testing repo. Add the below line.

    deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing non-free contrib main

  3. Then run sudo apt-get update

MISC NOTES:

Note the format of the repo line added.

deb <link from where packages will be downloaded from> <repoName> <sub branches of the repo>

Examples:

deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ testing non-free contrib main
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable non-free contrib main
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable non-free contrib main
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy non-free contrib main

Note in the above line "wheezy" repo is debian 7.0 release default repo. Unstable repo can have error prone packages.

sccott
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