Tim Cutts wrote:
[...]
You are lighting the blue touchpaper. Basically anything will work.
There's much less difference between Linux distributions than people
think. They basically differ in the way you install packages, and in
some cases in the locations of configuration files. But that's about
it. Go with whatever distribution you or your admins are already
familiar with.
Hello, Tim.
I agree with you in principle, but in practice many binary packages only
work properly under the target release of the target Linux distribution
because of their dependencies on particular shared libraries etc. At the
source level, of course, none of this matters. However, what many people
want (me included) is a team of dedicated volunteers doing the hard work
of making sure a collection of binary packages all work well together.
Personally, I prefer Debian-derived distributions to Red Hat workalikes,
but that's just me. Some people like the Gentoo build-it-all-yourself
approach. Some like the Rocks do-all-the-clustering-for-me approach.
But they can all do the job. It depends to a certain extent on how much
you want (or need) to get your own hands dirty.
I also prefer Debian-based distro's and still run the openMosix kernel
under an Ubuntu 6.06.1 LTS server installation on our Beowulf cluster.
What I like about APT (the Debian package manager) is the dependency
checking and conflict resolution capabilities of "aptitude", which is
more robust than the older "apt-get". I previously ran Red Hat 5.3->9
and I've used both "up2date" and "yum". Neither of these is as capable
of resolving package conflicts and dependencies as APT. I used APT for
RPM when I ran RH9 for exactly this reason.
In my opinion, the package management system is a very important factor
to take into account when choosing a distribution, as well as the range
of tried and tested binary packages that are available. In that respect,
Debian/Ubuntu has a lot to recommend it.
Tony.
--
Dr. A.J.Travis, | mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Rowett Research Institute, | http://www.rri.sari.ac.uk/~ajt
Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, | phone:+44 (0)1224 712751
Aberdeen AB21 9SB, Scotland, UK. | fax:+44 (0)1224 716687
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