Latest tag-versions point to Debian 9 instead of 10

[alexgit2k]

The latest tag-versions still point to Debian 9 "Stretch" (see https://hub.docker.com/_/node/), but should point to Debian 10 "Buster" which was merged in #1060:

• 12.6.0, 12.6, 12, current, latest
• 10.16.0, 10.16, 10, dubnium, lts
• 8.16.0, 8.16, 8, carbon

Example:

# docker image rm node:12
# docker run -it --rm node:12 cat /etc/debian_version
9.9

# docker run -it --rm node:12-buster cat /etc/debian_version
10

[nschonni]

I don't think the idea is to switch the default, but it is available as 12-buster

[alexgit2k]

These tags should point to the latest version which is Debian 10. If someone wants to use the old version he can use 12-stretch but not the other way round.

[tvainika]

These tags should point to the latest version which is Debian 10. If someone wants to use the old version he can use 12-stretch but not the other way round.

Please see issues such as #937. It is simply wrong to switch current tag to different base operating system than it has been been. That kind of switching breaks things.

There was a consensus in #1060 and #1055 that the default operating system should not change.

[alexgit2k]

Thanks for pointig this out.

[LaurentGoderre]

@tvainika I would like to point out that we will probably change version of debian at one point midway in a major version because the OS and Node version are not in sync. For this reason, using the latest tag is not as stable as using a pinned version (like stretch). However I don't think it's the right time to switch the latest tag to Buster

[tvainika]

My honest opinion is that changing Debian version midway you're doing it wrong. It breaks the expectations of many users as seen with #937.

However I can see that my (and some others') expectations are different than @alexgit2k and rest are having.

@LaurentGoderre Therefore my conclusion is that most important thing would be to write down the policy of OS upgrades. It cannot make everyone happy whatever that policy is, but having that policy written down helps to fix the expectations.

[LaurentGoderre]

@tvainika we provide the means to tag to specifc node-os version (except for alpine but that is coming) to avoid these conflicts. IMHO, if you decide to use the unpinned alias, you are implicitly accepting the inherit risk to stability that come with it.

[SimenB]

Regardless, we should have the policy written down.

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FWIW I agree with @tvainika that it should not change within a major (barring EOL). However, as long as we have a clear policy, we should be fine 🙂

[rafalmaciejewski]

Stretch reached LTS last month and is not supported by Debian security team.
https://wiki.debian.org/LTS
I think that now buster should be in the latest tag versions.