Debian Squeeze cleans up the grub2 wallpaper in desktop-base, and we're a bit closer to Stable

Anybody running Debian Squeeze whose desktop-base package has updated in recent days might notice a change in the wallpaper on their Grub 2 screen as they boot up. Previously the Debian logo in the lower right side of the Grub screen tended to obscure the portion of the boot message that tells you how many seconds are left until the machine boots automatically.

The new image in Grub doesn't have a Debian logo rendering invisible this sometimes (but not usually) vital bit of information. It's just one of many small tweaks I've seen in Squeeze in the run-up to it receiving the Stable designation and replacing Lenny as Debian's official Stable distribution.

Of course, many of us have been running Squeeze for months anyway, because for the most part Debian Testing is mighty stable (small "s"), if not officially Stable (capital "S").

I'm not sure where the Debian Project is with upgrades from Lenny to Squeeze, but I have a post from many months ago in which I tried this and failed miserably. The takeaway from this, for me anyway, is that upgrading an installation stands a good chance of not working when going from stable to testing, but it should work going from stable/old-stable to stable. At least that's what the Debian developers are aiming for when they certify Squeeze as Stable. What I mean to say is that many months ago, a Lenny-to-Squeeze dist-upgrade isn't anywhere near as foolproof as it is today (or will be when Squeeze is officially Stable).

I didn't do the upgrade without full backups, so it was a calculated risk on my part. But once Squeeze is official Stable, an upgrade from Lenny should work if the proper instructions are followed.

Back to desktop-base. Want to know what's included in desktop-base? All of this.