No. Debian's greatest achievement is creating a 100% free ( as in beer and free speech ), community supported GNU/Linux operating system.
Re:New to Debian
by
Jellybob
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· Score: 2, Insightful
The thing with Debian is that it doesn't *have* the pressing need to release, because of apt, which allows you to update any packages to new versions on a regular basis.
Re:New to Debian
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Really, I don't understand why people always complain about Debian not releasing often. Why is it so important to install a new cd for you?
Just move to testing or unstable, run dselect everyday and you will see new packages are added and updated every day.
I think people got used to upgrade distro to new releases often with Red Hat, Mandrake,... But why is it that important? With Debian, you can have a system very up to date (testing or unstable) without needing to install a new distro version every month. What's the problem with the Debian way of doing things?
Re:Debian's greatest achievement?
by
Joe+Tie.
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· Score: 4, Insightful
No. Debian's greatest achievement is creating a 100% free ( as in beer and free speech ), community supported GNU/Linux operating system.
It's only after switching to debian, and then trying out some other distros, that I've really come to appreciate just how impressive that community support is. I like having the newest and shiniest versions of most programs, and I'd be willing to pay a small fee for an easy way to keep everything on my system current. But surprisingly, I havn't seen any commercial distros that update the packages I'm interested in as quickly and neatly as happens with Debian Unstable. Given that it's community supported that's darn impressive!
-- Everything will be taken away from you.
Well done on Debian
by
rf0
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Debian is a well though out and stable distribution. People might complain that the packages are old and yes that might be true but they work. IF you want a machine to keep running then its great. Apt-get package and sit back. Also for security its great for admins. apt-get update && apt-get upgrade and thats it. No dependancy problems. Even the unstable is pretty stable
Re:Well done on Debian
by
isorox
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· Score: 4, Insightful
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade and thats it.
Strange how people automatically trust debian's updates, but would trust windows auto-update with a barge pole.
Re:New to Debian
by
ultrabot
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Some people advocate splitting the distro into a more modular approach were groups of packages (like file server packages, wes server packages, desktop packages) could be deemed stable and released independently.
Yep, and some advocate that there should only be a stable "core" debian, with the rest having the life of their own. I don't see why everyone else must wait for some my3117widget to stabilize. It should be possible to "lock down" the core, and ensure that most packages could be upgraded without disrupting the core. There is some sensibility in the windows approach, where the "OS" is the core, and the rest are seperate.
Obviously Linux is advancing much more rapidly than windows (I am running unstable myself, and like it more than I ever did stable (since slinky)), but at some point in time a sufficient level of maturity is achieved, and the core can be locked down. This is essential for corporate desktop environments at least.
Of course some see debian more as a platform on which to build a good desktop distro (Libranet, LindowsOS...)
And moderators: I'm not dissing debian, so ease up on that trigger. It's idiotic to mod someone down for giving suggestions, the civilized approach is to reply instead.
-- Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
Re:Debian's greatest achievement?
by
Malc
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· Score: 4, Insightful
apt-get is great, but it's not really the best part. Other distros have similar systems these days. What makes Debian (and apt-get) great is the care and attention that goes in to it. apt-get works because the packages it retrieves work. That's down to the individuals who contribute to Debian.
Re:Debian's greatest achievement?
by
shermozle
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Debian's greatest achievement is surely its policy and strict adherence to that policy. apt-get is only as usable as this due to the policy.
Docs somewhere other than/usr/share/doc? That's a bug.
Config files somewhere other than/etc/? That's a bug.
The bug tracking system hassles the author to fix the policy violation.
Re:Debian's greatest achievement?
by
rweir
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· Score: 4, Insightful
No, it's not. The greatest thing about Debian is Policy. It demands that packages meet the highest standards of quality. It makes sure that packages work together. It brings us things like the Debian Menu system, where every X-based package register's with EVERY window manager's app menu. It means that packages will upgrade smoothly, and (via the DFSG) that EVERYTHING is freely modifiable and re-distributable. Linkage: about Policy, why it rocks, more Debian policies.
Re:New to Debian
by
cbcbcb
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Because a) some people don't have broadband so they want a CD of the software they are actually going to run b) only stable releases have timely security updates c) installing security updates on unstable can require downloading 100s of MB due to pulling in other updated packages. d) stable won't even install on some newer hardware without guru knowledge e) unstable is sometimes buggy and can make a system unbootable, or make the user unable to log in. f) some people want to run reasonably recent software but without it changing every day. g) Unstable can be horribly broken during things like a gcc 3 transition
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No. Debian's greatest achievement is creating a 100% free ( as in beer and free speech ), community supported GNU/Linux operating system.
The thing with Debian is that it doesn't *have* the pressing need to release, because of apt, which allows you to update any packages to new versions on a regular basis.
Really, I don't understand why people always complain about Debian not releasing often. Why is it so important to install a new cd for you?
... But why is it that important?
Just move to testing or unstable, run dselect everyday and you will see new packages are added and updated every day.
I think people got used to upgrade distro to new releases often with Red Hat, Mandrake,
With Debian, you can have a system very up to date (testing or unstable) without needing to install a new distro version every month.
What's the problem with the Debian way of doing things?
No. Debian's greatest achievement is creating a 100% free ( as in beer and free speech ), community supported GNU/Linux operating system.
It's only after switching to debian, and then trying out some other distros, that I've really come to appreciate just how impressive that community support is. I like having the newest and shiniest versions of most programs, and I'd be willing to pay a small fee for an easy way to keep everything on my system current. But surprisingly, I havn't seen any commercial distros that update the packages I'm interested in as quickly and neatly as happens with Debian Unstable. Given that it's community supported that's darn impressive!
Everything will be taken away from you.
Debian is a well though out and stable distribution. People might complain that the packages are old and yes that might be true but they work. IF you want a machine to keep running then its great. Apt-get package and sit back. Also for security its great for admins. apt-get update && apt-get upgrade and thats it. No dependancy problems. Even the unstable is pretty stable
Hope it goes on for many more years
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
Some people advocate splitting the distro into a more modular approach were groups of packages (like file server packages, wes server packages, desktop packages) could be deemed stable and released independently.
Yep, and some advocate that there should only be a stable "core" debian, with the rest having the life of their own. I don't see why everyone else must wait for some my3117widget to stabilize. It should be possible to "lock down" the core, and ensure that most packages could be upgraded without disrupting the core. There is some sensibility in the windows approach, where the "OS" is the core, and the rest are seperate.
Obviously Linux is advancing much more rapidly than windows (I am running unstable myself, and like it more than I ever did stable (since slinky)), but at some point in time a sufficient level of maturity is achieved, and the core can be locked down. This is essential for corporate desktop environments at least.
Of course some see debian more as a platform on which to build a good desktop distro (Libranet, LindowsOS...)
And moderators: I'm not dissing debian, so ease up on that trigger. It's idiotic to mod someone down for giving suggestions, the civilized approach is to reply instead.
Save your wrists today - switch to Dvorak
apt-get is great, but it's not really the best part. Other distros have similar systems these days. What makes Debian (and apt-get) great is the care and attention that goes in to it. apt-get works because the packages it retrieves work. That's down to the individuals who contribute to Debian.
Debian's greatest achievement is surely its policy and strict adherence to that policy. apt-get is only as usable as this due to the policy.
/usr/share/doc? That's a bug.
/etc/? That's a bug.
Docs somewhere other than
Config files somewhere other than
The bug tracking system hassles the author to fix the policy violation.
No, it's not. The greatest thing about Debian is Policy. It demands that packages meet the highest standards of quality. It makes sure that packages work together. It brings us things like the Debian Menu system, where every X-based package register's with EVERY window manager's app menu. It means that packages will upgrade smoothly, and (via the DFSG) that EVERYTHING is freely modifiable and re-distributable. Linkage: about Policy, why it rocks, more Debian policies.
Because
a) some people don't have broadband so they want a CD of the software they are actually going to run
b) only stable releases have timely security updates
c) installing security updates on unstable can require downloading 100s of MB due to pulling in other updated packages.
d) stable won't even install on some newer hardware without guru knowledge
e) unstable is sometimes buggy and can make a system unbootable, or make the user unable to log in.
f) some people want to run reasonably recent software but without it changing every day.
g) Unstable can be horribly broken during things like a gcc 3 transition