>>>>> "AAJ" == Atte Andr? Jensen <atte.jensen@xxxxxxxxx> writes: AAJ> Now what I'd like to know is how much of alsa is updated through AAJ> apt-get update from unstable? And how key are these parts to my simple AAJ> setup? Are there ways to keep the system more stable than what I have? Nothing is changed by "apt-get update" except the list of things that can be installed by "apt-get ...". You probably meant to say "apt-get upgrade". I solve the problem of not having that break things by never running it at all. What I do instead is I have a script that runs "apt-get update", and then "apt-get install" for a list of things that I want to keep up-to-date on. Which does actually include alsa in my case, since I'm having problems that i hope someone might fix some day. Another piece of my system is that I read the Debian Weekly News and when they have a security update to something I use, I add that to the list of things that get installed after an update. If you really need to not have something updated, you should pin it. For instance, at the moment, I can't upgrade tetex, because it would break the version of lilypond I run, so I have a file /etc/apt/preferences which contains the lines: Package: tetex-base Pin: version 2.0.2* Pin-Priority: 1001 -- Laura (mailto:lconrad@xxxxxxxxxxxx , http://www.laymusic.org/ ) (617) 661-8097 fax: (501) 641-5011 233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139