What exactly is Etch?

[COKE CAN]

What is Etch, I understand Sarge, that's 3.1, right?

[techieMoe]

What is Etch, I understand Sarge, that's 3.1, right?

Etch is the name of the next "Testing" branch. "Sid" is always the name of the unstable branch. "Sarge" is the latest stable release.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian#Debian_releases

[IsaacKuo]

"Etch" is actually the name of the _current_ testing branch. It will become the next stable branch someday in the future, replacing Sarge the way Sarge replaced Woody. When Etch goes stable, it will officially become Debian 3.2, unless they decide to change the numbering scheme (e.g. skip to 4.0).

[techieMoe]

"Etch" is actually the name of the _current_ testing branch.

Yeah, I suppose I could have worded that better. Since Sarge has been the "testing" branch for so long, I meant Etch was the "next" testing branch after Sarge. Anyway...