Shameless Debian plug (was: [TCLUG:15263] Reading Red Hat rpms vsdeb)

[Kevin Bullock <kbullock@ringworld.org>]

Grüß Gott alle --

\usepackage{asbestos}
\begin{twocents}

\begin{semirant}

My usage of Debian consists of basically this:

I install the shit I want, the exact packages, and the packages handle
telling dpkg what they need/recommend/suggest to run (nicely). Dpkg
grabs everything from the mirror I specify. The mirror is organized
well, with the same structure and package set as the master Debian
site. This includes (at least damn near) *every* package that is in
.deb format (exceptions being site-specific or non-redistributable
stuff, in which case there's a source pkg or an installer
pkg). There's main/ (most stuff -- has to meet DFSG, from which
opensource.org derives its opensource guidelines). There's contrib/
and non-free/ for the more limited stuff, non-US/ for the
importable-but-not-exportable stuff (non-open ssh, etc.).
  Summary: it's well-organized, it's centralized, it's Open, and it
makes good sense to me.

I upgrade nightly (running unstable/frozen -- or whenever there's
updates when I run stable).

If I want to install software (or newer versions of software) that's
not in the distribution, I download source and
a) install it in /usr/local/stow and stow it (check out stow, it's
   cool)
b) build a package out of it (e.g. GNOME stuff that *really* wants to
   be in /usr/*).

Does all of this make me a macho "real man" *n*x hacker? Probably
not. Do I care? No. My shit works smoothly. If it doesn't, I hack it
to fix it. I let the computer automate what can be automated smoothly, 
and I do what needs to be done. Does this make me a techno-weenie? I
think not. Again, do I care? Nope! :) I like to avoid concentrating my
energy on reinventing the wheel.

As a postscript, I will say that I *never* leave a default kernel
installed, and fortunately Debian makes life easy in this regard:

/usr/src/linux # make menuconfig
/usr/src/linux # make-kpkg --revision dysonsphere0 kernel_image
/usr/src/linux # dpkg -i ../kernel-image-2.2.14_dysonsphere0_i386.deb

Reboot and you're good to go.
\end{semirant}

\begin{comparisons}

\section{RedHat}
My experience with RedHat is admittedly not significantly more than
empirical. That being said, it doesn't feel as smooth to me as Debian
does with regard to installation (the installer's initrd is organized
in a way completely incomprehensible to me), package dependencies,
ease of upgrades, etc. I agree with the previous post that it seems to 
be a little too dependent on linuxconf, even though I find linuxconf
generally pleasing to work with.

\section{Slackware}
I always wanted to do an install of slackware, but I've become too
entrenched in Debian to do an install of any other distro with my
limited HD space. It's kindof a do-it-to-prove-I-can thing. I like the 
idea of having that control. I just don't have the time to actually
*do* it :)

\section{FreeBSD}
I like FreeBSD. It has a taste of the control of Slackware, and it has 
a pretty installer (well, relatively). I didn't quite get the ports
collection working though.
  apt is *not* Debian's version of the ports collection, but that's
another discussion.

\section{Others}
I've tried installs of TurboLinux, Mandrake, and Corel. They all
failed. I grabbed my Debian CDs, and in many cases, things started
working. Some of that has to do with my experience with Debian and its 
installer, but a lot of it has to do with autoprobing hardware and
such things.
\end{comparisons}

\end{twocents}

I trust I have made my point, without causing too much
consternation. Remember this is only my opinion. :)

Pacem in Terris / Mir / Shanti / Salaam / Heiwa
Kevin R. Bullock