For me Debian strikes a nice balance between convenience and staying out of my way and preserving my changes when I want to customize things. As mentioned, apt, though I like using aptitude through its TUI mostly, handles dependencies not just for installing but for removing packages as well. When the debconf system detects that a configuration file (most often found under /etc) has been modified, it will prompt for a resolution (I have dealt with distributions that weren't so careful).
The Debian developers often set sensible defaults that mesh well with the system and often modify a package to make it easier to administer. The security team does a good job of responding to issues and updating needed packages. Over the years it has become obvious to me that the developers care deeply about the distribution and this is reflected in the quality of the past several releases (all have been good since I first installed Debian 2.1 (Slink) back in late summer 1999, but past several have shown the project has the process down pat). The project is committed to Free Software yet has not forgotten that sometimes pragmatism dictates that users need to use non-free packages to accomplish their tasks. Fortunately, most of the non-free packages that are needed these days are kernel modules. HTH, - Nate -- "The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears this is true." Web: https://www.n0nb.us Projects: https://github.com/N0NB GPG fingerprint: 82D6 4F6B 0E67 CD41 F689 BBA6 FB2C 5130 D55A 8819
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