Linux Distributions (was Re: [thelist] Getting Started With Linux)

[Hendrik Mans]

David,

> I'd be curious to hear the opinions of others on various Linux
> distributions, especially in web environments (including desktop systems,
> name servers, mail servers, etc.). What do people use, and how do you use
> what you've got?

My personal favourite is Debian. But I've never been *that* interested in
the politics of the Linux/Open Source movements, so the fact that Debian is
100% "free" is not one of the reasons why I like it so much (but it may be a
good reason for others).

Things I like very much about Debian:

  - very straight forward installation/administration/maintenance.
    It's not 100% newbie friendly, but it's still straight forward.

  - it's very easy to keep your system up to date.

  - distribution packages you can rely on.

Even on my production server, I run "apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade"
every couple of weeks to get all installed software up to the latest
version. This has so far caused no problems at all; even making a new kernel
is strangely comfortable.

Your mileage may vary. ;-)

A lot of people use RedHat these days, but I've often found RedHat's
packages to be put together carlessly, and sometimes difficult to get hold
of. Mind you, the last version of RedHat I've used was 5.x, so things may
have improved since then.

Take care,
Hendrik