>"Steve R. Hastings" wrote: > >I am interested in why people prefer Debian to other Linux > >distributions. Please explain the top few reasons why you chose Debian > >rather than something else.
(This is also some kind of a rant, read at own risk, see below for major points) 2.5 years ago I got a job as a network engineer and all of my colleagues used two boxes, my boss explained it "windows for compatibility, unix for productivity". One of the sysadmins set up a linux box for me (not based on any distribution, but completely handcrafted) and gradually as I learned more I started doing more and more of my work with it. Package management being an unknown issue on the box I had a *very* steep learning curve, but after some near-disasters (mostly involving libc-upgrades) I thought about the package-management issue and installed SuSe on my home machine. After one or two weeks I stumbled across the Debian website, read about the DFSG and immediately liked it. Administering the SuSe box was a nightmare anyway, so I nuked it and installed Debian (slink). Some weeks later I installed Debian on my private webserver and another few weeks after on my workstation, too. In the meantime I´m the primary helpline for some new colleagues and urge them to install Debian, but some simply like the colorful SuSe approach and install SuSe and/or Redhat anyway, so I have to cope with them, too. But Debian is clearly my favourite choice: - Clear software guideline, DFSG, but with a practical approach, see the non-free/non-US sections - Superior package-management, heck, even libc-upgrades working flawlessly - very strict filesystem-layout and - also strict setup of the init-scripts and config-files in /etc - (nearly) instant security updates via security.debian.org, this is *very* convenient for production machines. Not a single exploit exploited in 1.5 years now <crossing fingers> ;) - active and helpful mailing lists, even for rather mysterious and/or exotic problems - I can see the Hurd on the horizon, not approaching very fast, but steadily - not depending on rather magical tools like SuSeconfig and - never ever messing around with my config files without asking first and even then backing up the old version - clear and funtional bug-reporting system - intelligent policy regarding stable (,testing) and unstable releases with the option to run unstable packages on otherwise stable systems - small-footprint systems hasslefree possible, install base and apt-get only what you really need just my 2 (EUR-) cents, &rw -- / Ing. Robert Waldner | Network Engineer | T: +43 1 89933 F: x533 \ \ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | KPNQwest/AT | Diefenbachg. 35, A-1150 /
