Problem
From Time to time, I see questions with what I think are easy answers, like Manually compile and add module r8169 (and others), and I think OK, I use Gentoo, and compile my own kernel often so let's tailor a solution to Debian, and earn some easy reputation because I like it here, and want to become a moderator etc.
I start to formulate and research my answer to type up and realize that Debian 6.0 (from the comment), a.k.a Squeeze will be EOL soon.
From DebianSqueeze:
Releases
...
- 2014-07-19 : Updated (6.0.10) (press release).
- 2016-02-06 : End of LTS security updates for i386 and amd64 (five years after initial release)
Hmmm, even the LTS will be gone... Should I continue and answer his question, or let the security conscious user in me loose, and do more than "gently urge?"
Reasoning
First the Definition via Wikipedia:
"End-of-life" (EOL) is a term used with respect to a product supplied to customers, indicating that the product is in the end of its useful life (from the vendor's point of view), and a vendor intends to stop marketing, selling, or sustaining it. (The vendor may simply intend to limit or end support for the product.)
I realize that users/readers come here because in some cases the StackExchange Community is the only place that particular reader can find an answer, but I'm asking for advice because although software is about freedom, using an EOL distribution can cause problems on many fronts, including but not limited to:
- No Vendor Support
- Security Issues
- Only update mechanism is backports. If those break, you're up a creek anyway.
- Outdated Software. See Items 2 and 3.
- Probably Others, I can't think of
Options
AskUbuntu has tags separated by version - I expect that there, as some Ubuntu users are new to the distribution, and don't know the proper upgrade path: (A mod can edit this later with a report from AskUbuntu)
Wow, 10,000 Questions we could dump because Ubuntu Support Ended! Do we need a similar system, ie tagging by version? For all the distros we answer questions for? Lots of work because we answer more than Ubuntu based questions....
Do we "gently push" posters to upgrade as I did via comment? Chances are the driver the OP wants is in a newer 3.x kernel, and already created in the RAM Disk my answer will involve.
I recommend tag creation, i.e.
eol-ubuntu
,eol-redhat
,eol-fedora
,eol-debian
and others, for questions dealing with EOL Support. This tag tells answer writers that older documentation may be needed, and it also tells answer writers that they not receive an answer, and helps comment writers and editors with Option 2. In the same way, we'll end up with 26,000+ questions that may or may not end up answered, but at least some posters may upgrade.