Re: Debian target audience
Debian (stable) may be among the best OS's in the world in terms of
documentation and reliability.
Over the past few months, I've been learning Debian Sarge, and I am switching
from a major RPM based distribution to Debian and will do so over the coming
weeks.
Good (excellent?) things about Debian that I've noticed after running RPM
based distros for the past 8 years:
1. It's free (speech/beer as mentioned in another message in this thread) and
the Debian team (correctly so) goes to great lengths to ensure it stays that
way.
2. The "stable" tree is (far) more bug-free than other distributions I've
used. (I wish I could say the same for software that I support, where at my
"day job" I'm a SysAdmin.) (When someone says "yeah, but stable is old" - see
the end of comment #5.)
3. Debian, based on my early observations, is more self-documenting than other
distributions. I am amazed at the amount of documentation available in
Debian's archives and on the CD's downloaded for Sarge. Truly impressive.
4. Even with the large number of packages, software is easy to find because of
the metadata in the package files (e.g. apt-cache search foo.) And, I'm
confident that once installed, the software I found in Debian's stable archive
**will work.**
5. The Debian team keeps a strict requirement of software that enters
"stable." If something isn't "free" or doesn't work correctly, what's the use
of having it in the "stable" archive? Makes me wonder whether those who
clamor for a quicker release cycle realize there are (many) other
distributions available if they want untested/unfinished software. On the
other hand, if a working distribution is desired, that is what Debian stable
is for. Getting things right takes time and energy and clear thought, it's as
simple and unavoidable as that.
6. Many Debian native tools exist to ensure the integrity of a system. I've
found quite a few tools already exist when I want to check an aspect of a
system's integrity.
7. How many distributions have started with Debian as a base, vs. other
distributions? That speaks volumes.
=========Keith
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