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Gonna get back into debian....

H

Hyperblaze

Lifer
I've used debian a LONG time ago....

can't even remember what version it was....

in the current version, 3.1, what are the pros and cons of this distro?

 
Cons:

1) Many of the Debian-specific commands and subsystems require time and reading to use - they are targetted at experienced users. In contrast, most other distro's unique components are wizard-like GUI programs whose operation is fairly obvious once you know where to find the program in the first place. You can't get the most out of tools like aptitude or make-kpkg without sitting down and reading.

2) The stable branch moves too slowly for desktop systems. The unstable branch is up to date, but can require knowledgeable management when a component undergoes major changes, which may happen at any time. Testing can work well much of the time, but can occasionally have portions (like GNOME) stuck in screwed-up states for significant periods of time because of key packages being held back.

Pros:

1) Best quality packaging and configuration system out of any distro. Subsystems and policies are thoughtfully designed - it is extremely rare to see anything in Debian that feels like a "hack job".

2) Huge selection of software.

3) With appropriate management, can work well in a huge range of environments - from minimalist, CLI-only embedded servers to cutting-edge desktops.


Debian is, IMO, still far and away the highest-quality distro out there for the largest range of purposes. It takes a while to understand how Debian works and why it works that way, but once you do it's hard to make yourself use anything else.
 
Try Debian Etch (currently 'Testing'). It's due out to be stable by the end of this year. It's as new as Ubuntu is.

Debian Stable is more stable, obviously, but it's starting to get kinda old. I recommend it if you want that, just be sure to do the install with the linux26 option for a 2.6 kernel.

Debian GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide

I learned a lot from that and I was using Debian for a while. It's very good. Also aviable in book form.
 
The majority of the boxes that I admin are Debian based (either Debian or Ubuntu) and it feels like I know a secret that no one else does. Debian makes your life as a sys admin so much easier. E.G. I deployed an entire server (web and mail) to load testing prior to pushing it into production in half a day. That included data migration from the current Live server. I also desployed an Ubuntu Server based box as a gateway in about an hour, which included NAT'ing (ipmasq is sooo ridiculous) and then customizing the firewall script generated by ~$ ipmasq > ./NAT.sh I'm a Gentoo guy when it comes to my home boxes so using Debian at work is like pressing the easy button. Config hosed? dpkg-reconfigure <package name> done.
 
Originally posted by: DaiShan
The majority of the boxes that I admin are Debian based (either Debian or Ubuntu) and it feels like I know a secret that no one else does. Debian makes your life as a sys admin so much easier. E.G. I deployed an entire server (web and mail) to load testing prior to pushing it into production in half a day. That included data migration from the current Live server. I also desployed an Ubuntu Server based box as a gateway in about an hour, which included NAT'ing (ipmasq is sooo ridiculous) and then customizing the firewall script generated by ~$ ipmasq > ./NAT.sh I'm a Gentoo guy when it comes to my home boxes so using Debian at work is like pressing the easy button. Config hosed? dpkg-reconfigure <package name> done.
Click to expand...

Wait, it takes longer with some operating systems?
 
The main cons are:

1) Stable can be pretty old although backports are available for somethings at www.backports.org.

2) Little commercial support from people like Oracle, so if you want to run Oracle you'll also want to stick with SuSe or RHEL.

If this is for a desktop I would say to just run unstable and install apt-listbugs so you get a heads up about potential problems whenever you update (which I recommend doing at least weekly, getting too far behind can cause it's own problems when you go through a huge update later).
 
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