john@wexfordpress.com wrote:
I'll echo that. Learned a LOT working through Linux from Scratch. Less enamored of Gentoo, if I'm going to build from source I find it a lot easier just downloading whatever program I'm interested in and running the makefile - without putting a build system in the middle.For a pure learning experience there is gentoo (vaguely debian-like) or Linux From Scratch. If you fight your way through one of those installs you will know a lot of the tearful side of Linux. They don't hide the details, they glory in the low level nuts and bolts.
For production, I've found Debian to be the most stable environment, and apt-get is excellent for dealing with dependencies. Though I find there are an awful lot of packages I use that I need to build from source. Not looking forward to migrating my production boxes from Sarge to Etch, though.
Miles