Switch MDK -> Debian, probably
Hi,
I'm a MDK user and I'm evaluating a switch to Debian mainly because of
the better package management system.
To make my mind I need to know few things:
-> with MDK, to update the main packages I have to reinstall the OS
every 6 or 12 months. I don't use linux as main OS (I use Mac OS X), so
it's pretty annoying... the time I spend mantaining the OS is too much.
What about Debian? Can I update the whole system (without adding
packages, I mean, only updates) without the need of a complete
reinstall? (MDK main OS installer is not really good in doing
upgrades). I don't want to reconfigure everything every 6 months...
-> In MDK, when I had to upgrade from KDE 3.1.x to KDE 3.2 (I had
MDK9.2, I tried to update only what I needed), I had to force the urpmi
system to uninstall all the kde packages (I had to force it because
urpmi keeps track of every dependency: a wonderful system, it always
worked beautifully except this time, not like the original rpm).
Unfortunately, the process wasn't flawless. When I started kde 3.2, I
found that kdm (login manager) lost every WM other than kde... OO.org
never started anymore... and similar things. I heard a friend saying in
Debian the process would have been as simple as a single cmdline. Is it
true (I mean, *facts*, not "it should be so", please...). Remember that
a traditional update would be simple even under MDK, I take KDE 3.1.x
-> 3.2 as example because the packages number/names changed, urpmi
couldn't cope with this. What about .deb? This point is important.
-> what about the kernel? Did the 2.4 -> 2.6 change require a complete
os install?
-> kernels: are they patched? MDK ships a kernel heavily patched as
standard, in my opinion this is really useful. If debian kernels are
"clean", can I take a MDK kernel (let's suppose I compile it, but what
about taking the rpm with the kernel?) and use it in Debian? (I suppose
yes, but who knows)
-> rpm packages are everywhere... what about .deb? I'm able to compile
apps, but, since having a package allow me to uninstall it cleanly and
simply, I always prefer prepackaged apps. Will I be able to use rpms?
-> will I be able to use MDK, SUSE and Fedora (the latter doesn't
matter that much, I never seen them) configuration tools? AFAIK, Debian
leave the user alone, there are no "debian" tool to configure the OS (I
originally chose MDK due to this). Note: this point is a must. Without
GUI tools to speed up system configuration, I won't choose Debian.
If you need to know, I'd choose the testing branch, even if don't
remember the kernel it ships... I hope 2.6. [update: no, it ships
2.4.something. What about 2.6? I want it]
Last thing: what about reiserfs4? will it be among the FS choices? if
not I'll choose reiserfs, but is a rfs3.6->rfs4 upgrade possible
without format?
Thanks in advance to anyone, you seem to be the tighter community among
the distros but I really asked many questions...
Olaf Marzocchi
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