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> Debian names all their releases after characters from Toy Story. I can’t believe I’m just now learning this, but that’s good to know next time someone asks w

> Debian names all their releases after characters from Toy Story. I can’t believe I’m just now learning this, but that’s good to know next time someone asks why the names seem random.

lub 6y ago
And sid (unstable) is the neighbor who breaks the toys, which is why the name never changes :)
- beagle3 6y ago
  Story I heard is that it started with “sid” being an acronym for “still in development”, but once that caught, it blazed the trail for the rest of the Toy Story characters....
  - fanf2 6y ago
    I heard it was because when Bruce Perens was Debian Project Leader, he was working for Pixar around the time of the Toy Story release, and chose the naming scheme. The descriptive name for unstable has always been unstable, not "still in development".
- Igelau 6y ago
  Looking back, Sid was an artist being smothered by mundane suburbia, while Andy was a milquetoast who couldn't look after his stuff.
  - mikepurvis 6y ago
    Others have noticed this too— some examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/1qmtoi/sid_from_toy_story_wasnt_actually_a_bad_kid_he/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/1qmtoi/sid_fro... https://matthewdicks.com/film/2018-5-23-sid-from-toy-story-was-a-completely-normal-person/ https://matthewdicks.com/film/2018-5-23-sid-from-toy-story-w...
    - emmelaich 6y ago
      and https://puzzling.org/entertainment/movies-entertainment/2013/04/team-sid-why-the-antagonist-became-my-favourite/ https://puzzling.org/entertainment/movies-entertainment/2013...
umvi 6y ago
Holy cow ...! I guess the reason I never noticed was because I started using Debian around version 7, and the majority of the iconic Toy Story names (Woody, Buzz, Slink, Potato, etc.) are all pre-7.
- R0b0t1 6y ago
  Same exact thing for me. I rue the day they run out of names :(.
  - LeoPanthera 6y ago
    Plenty more characters in the sequels.
pyuser583 6y ago
Yeah - wow.
dazzawazza 6y ago
It's cute but really frustrating. I wish they'd just use the version number or force everyone to use "<version #>-<stupidname>". but I'm a FreeBSD user so what do I know?
- kemotep 6y ago
  To be fair, you can just point to the `stable` repositories in the `/etc/apt/sources.list` configuration file and simply just refer to your install as "Debian Stable" ('s/stable/testing/g'). However every few years there might be a not so "stable" update around the new release.
  - dazzawazza 6y ago
    It's not for me, it's for when I get bug reports and I need to decipher what flavour of linux, what release of the kernel, what libc etc. "I'm running decrepit duck" doesn't really narrow it down too much. Especially when multiple distributions use these jovial monikers.
    - kemotep 6y ago
      I can understand that frustration if you are used to the BSD's. Windows 10 and macOS keep it pretty simple too.
      - black3r 6y ago
        Ubuntu is the most simplest.., 20.04 means it was released in april 2020. Windows 2004 means it was finalized in april 2020, but released some times later (may? june? who knows).., plus they both try to release every 6 months and in case of ubuntu you know that even aprils are LTS, so it's always predictable to know what's the latest version. mac 10.15 means what? and the next release is gonna be 11.0. someone who doesn't follow or use macs has no idea to figure out if the latest version is 10.15 or 10.14, or 11.0...
        6y ago
Hamuko 6y ago
I think even the Deb + Ian naming is still a fairly unknown piece of knowledge.

> Debian names all their releases after characters from Toy Story. I can’t believe I’m just now learning this, but that’s good to know next time someone asks why the names seem random.

lub 6y ago

And sid (unstable) is the neighbor who breaks the toys, which is why the name never changes :)

beagle3 6y ago
Story I heard is that it started with “sid” being an acronym for “still in development”, but once that caught, it blazed the trail for the rest of the Toy Story characters....
- fanf2 6y ago
  I heard it was because when Bruce Perens was Debian Project Leader, he was working for Pixar around the time of the Toy Story release, and chose the naming scheme. The descriptive name for unstable has always been unstable, not "still in development".
Igelau 6y ago
Looking back, Sid was an artist being smothered by mundane suburbia, while Andy was a milquetoast who couldn't look after his stuff.
- mikepurvis 6y ago
  Others have noticed this too— some examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/1qmtoi/sid_from_toy_story_wasnt_actually_a_bad_kid_he/ https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/1qmtoi/sid_fro... https://matthewdicks.com/film/2018-5-23-sid-from-toy-story-was-a-completely-normal-person/ https://matthewdicks.com/film/2018-5-23-sid-from-toy-story-w...
  - emmelaich 6y ago
    and https://puzzling.org/entertainment/movies-entertainment/2013/04/team-sid-why-the-antagonist-became-my-favourite/ https://puzzling.org/entertainment/movies-entertainment/2013...

umvi 6y ago

Holy cow ...! I guess the reason I never noticed was because I started using Debian around version 7, and the majority of the iconic Toy Story names (Woody, Buzz, Slink, Potato, etc.) are all pre-7.

R0b0t1 6y ago
Same exact thing for me. I rue the day they run out of names :(.
- LeoPanthera 6y ago
  Plenty more characters in the sequels.

pyuser583 6y ago

Yeah - wow.

dazzawazza 6y ago

It's cute but really frustrating. I wish they'd just use the version number or force everyone to use "<version #>-<stupidname>". but I'm a FreeBSD user so what do I know?

kemotep 6y ago
To be fair, you can just point to the `stable` repositories in the `/etc/apt/sources.list` configuration file and simply just refer to your install as "Debian Stable" ('s/stable/testing/g'). However every few years there might be a not so "stable" update around the new release.
- dazzawazza 6y ago
  It's not for me, it's for when I get bug reports and I need to decipher what flavour of linux, what release of the kernel, what libc etc. "I'm running decrepit duck" doesn't really narrow it down too much. Especially when multiple distributions use these jovial monikers.
  - kemotep 6y ago
    I can understand that frustration if you are used to the BSD's. Windows 10 and macOS keep it pretty simple too.
    - black3r 6y ago
      Ubuntu is the most simplest.., 20.04 means it was released in april 2020. Windows 2004 means it was finalized in april 2020, but released some times later (may? june? who knows).., plus they both try to release every 6 months and in case of ubuntu you know that even aprils are LTS, so it's always predictable to know what's the latest version. mac 10.15 means what? and the next release is gonna be 11.0. someone who doesn't follow or use macs has no idea to figure out if the latest version is 10.15 or 10.14, or 11.0...
      - 6y ago

Hamuko 6y ago

I think even the Deb + Ian naming is still a fairly unknown piece of knowledge.