Linux Question: How mature/stable is Debian Woody?

[MGMorden]

I'm mostly a Slackware fan myself, but I've recently considered trying out Debian (I've used it before but that was years ago). Basically I've just rebuilt my Linux machine and I'm going to be setting it up from scratch so I figured now is a good time to try out the various distros. Debian Potato seems way too out of date though, so I was wondering if I might would be more suited trying out Debian Woody. The packages look decently up to date but how mature is it compared to say Slackware 8. If it's complete Beta level then I think I'll go w/ Slackware again but if it's decently workable I'm going to try it out.

 

[cureless]

I use woody.

I've had no troubles what so ever. I update every few days. My current uptime is 22 days since I recompiled the kernel. I run network simulations (NS-2) on it.

cl

 

[KenCleanAirSystem]

Woody is due for, and possibly may already be frozen except for bug fixes. It will more than likely become the stable branch within the next couple months and Sid will be moved to 'testing' to replace it. Last I heard they were still thinking about what the next 'unstable' branch would be called ... one of the developers mentioned having to break out Toy Story again soon to figure out a new name for the unstable branch.

So to answer your question, 'Woody' is as stable, if not a whole lot moreso, than most distros that are packaged as 'stable' distributions (i.e. RedHat 7.1, Mandrake 8.0, etc.). Debian developers are some of the most anal out there when it comes to releasing a rock solid distribution and the fact that they are in the proccess of code freeze in Woody speaks volumes about its stability ... at least as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Nothinman]

I run woody on a few x86 boxes, an Alpha and an UltraSparc, and have had virtually no problems with any of them, alteast none I would blame on Debian.

Debian developers are some of the most anal out there when it comes to releasing a rock solid distribution

Definately, the few times I have had breakage from packages in Debian (perl 5.6 got ugly more than once) it's been fixed in a day or so, how ever long it takes packages to get from incoming to the package pool.

 

[Damaged]

Well, if you use the testing tree instead of the unstable tree it's really been pretty good for an unstable tree (makes sense right? ).

Anyways, yes, it's frozen now and I think Oct is when they expect to make it the stable tree.

Oh, steer clear of Ximian right now though. As in setting their server in your /etc/apt/sources.conf. Nasty.

[edit]Oh. Ximian=Gnome[/edit]