Exactly. The term “stable” in connection with software has the same problems of “free”; without understanding the context, it can be interpreted wrongly. “stable” type of distributions are meant to be “unchanging” in the sense of feature freeze. That off course depends on the distro or software in general how far this goes. Archlinux is “unstable” in the sense it is ever changing and adapting new technologies by breaking compatibility; something Debian does not.
The term “stable” is not meant to be used as a synonym for “reliable” when describing distros.
I know, I was referring to the heading implying otherwise:
Exactly. The term “stable” in connection with software has the same problems of “free”; without understanding the context, it can be interpreted wrongly. “stable” type of distributions are meant to be “unchanging” in the sense of feature freeze. That off course depends on the distro or software in general how far this goes. Archlinux is “unstable” in the sense it is ever changing and adapting new technologies by breaking compatibility; something Debian does not.