Debian is a very stable operating system, and part of that stability is achieved by using more tested and outdated software. And I don't say it, they say it themselves on the page of Debian Backports (here the Spanish version): «The software is a bit outdated compared to other distributions“, and this is where a repository comes into play that allows newer software to be used without having to update the entire operating system.
But what is Debian Backports? It is a repository where there is more updated software, like Kubuntu and Lubuntu, but there are important differences. The main one is that while Ubuntu's KDE and LXQt edition Backports update any matching package to the new version, to do the same in Debian you have to enter it manually. That is, adding the Debian Backports repository will do nothing by itself.
Another difference is where the backports are made from (I like that word): While Kubuntu and Lubuntu bring them from newer software, namely desktop, apps and libraries, or in the case of Kubuntu you could also say that it comes from KDE neon , Debian ships the software of the frame testing of your operating system. Many of the packages are completely secure, but Debian has its philosophy and it's not going to change it now.
How to add the Debian Backports repository
As explained in the instructions page, we must add deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports main to the /etc/apt/sources.list file. It would look like the following it should look similar to the following:
If it shouldn't stay the same, it's because the Debian I've done the tests on already had the Backports repository added by default. Before adding it you have to check that it is not already in the list, or it will show an error when trying to refresh the repositories.
Alternatively, a new file with a .list extension can be added to the folder /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ with the same content, and the name of the Toy Story character will depend on the version of Debian we are using. The official information says "bullseye", which is Debian 11, and for Debian 12 you have to use bookworm. Once added the repository will be updated with apt update o apt-get update. We will see that it has been refreshed successfully.
And what have we done so far? Nothing, or nothing to worry about. We have the repository, but it does nothing without user interaction.
Install “backported” software
Suppose we have an outdated version of LibreOffice, or we simply want to switch from the “still” (more stable) channel to the “fresh” (all new) channel. We have to open a terminal and write:
sudo apt install -t bookworm-backports libreoffice
At the time of writing this article, the above command will allow you to upgrade from LibreOffice 7.4.7 to 7.5.5, which with five maintenance updates can already be considered stable and only v7.6 remains to be released for 7.5 to become the Recommended version for production teams. From that line, we would have to change the name of the Toy Story character to that of our version of Debian and the package to be installed.
This is a nice way to balance things out a bit. The base will be the same, and only some packages will be uploaded that should not cause failures. Whether to take the plunge or not, as always in Linux, is our decision.
You can use Backports, but it's better to use a repository sid, which you have commented out and when you need something newer, you uncomment it and sudo apt update, but without hitting yes, then you go to synaptic and look for your package, install it and you comment on sid's repo again and that's it and that way you always have the latest of what interests you with zero problems, I've been using debian stable for years and doing this for specific things and zero problems.