on Tue, Oct 30, 2001 at 01:50:08PM -0500, Michael Kaminsky ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> I'm been using Mandrake for the past couple of years, and now I'm
> considering switching to Debian; but, I have some concerns. I
> consider myself a fairly experienced Linux user and use Linux for all
> my computing needs (devel, digital camera stuff, laptop stuff ,text
> processing, networking, etc.). I would like input on the following:
>
> * One reason I moved to Mandrake from Redhat (from Slackware) is that
> the packages are extremely up-to-date. Even the unstable version of
> Debian seems sorely lacking. Mandrake seems to put out RPMs within
> 1-2 days of the upstream developers. There are still no Debian
> packages for software I use regularly that's been out for > 1 month
> (according to the debian web page package search form).
> Example: gnucash.
>
> Also, in some cases the package I want is up-to-date, but not
> all of its dependencies. Example: gnumeric. Version 0.72 requires
> a version of guppi for which there is no Debian package.
My experience is that Debian unstable tends to be pretty up-to-date
(notable exception in my experience: Mozilla, Q1-Q2 2001, which was
hanging around 18-n ferfukinevah, but it got over that). The usual
problem is confounded dependencies or package organization upstream.
The benefit: you're getting a good balance of _current_ and
_functional_.
If you're interested in closely tracking recent builds of a package,
MVAO is that Debian gives you the edge by babysitting the rest of the
system while you wrestle with bleeding edge programs and support.
Install same under /usr/local or use alien to convert RPMs. You're
going to have to resolve deps on your own though.
> * Apt + dselect seem very powerful, efficient if you use them
> together correctly. From the mailing lists, though, "correctly"
> seems to be a matter of confusion (or perhaps just preference).
Generally, there are two classes of package management tools: those
that handle single packages, and those that handle groups. dselect,
capt, and aptitude are full-screen interfaces in which multiple packages
may be selected, queried, and installed interactively. dpkg and apt-get
are command-line interfaces better suited for installing single packages
or small sets, once you know what you're looking for, _or_, in the case
of apt-get, doing a full update of your system.
My experience is that you use dselect when you're doing an initial
install, then do one-off package installs with apt-get as needed, and
system upgrades with apt-get on a regular basis. I rarely go back to
the full-screen frontends.
> Also, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to upgrade to testing or
> unstable once you install.
Change your /etc/apt/sources.list source pointers.
> * Mandrake has very decent system configuration tools.
So does Debian: vim, emacs, nano,....
> I spent many years editing scripts and config files to setup up
> Linux machines,
Debian uses the Extra Straightforward Readable® config script format and
layout. My other GNU/Linux experience is largely RH, and its config
scripts are a sorry mess. Even frontends such as LinuxConf don't manage
to find and update all scripts reliabily.
> but it just takes longer when it comes to simple,
> basic tasks (adding a network interface,
$EDITOR /etc/network/interfaces
> changing the runlevel
/usr/sbin/update-rc.d
> configuration for daemons, etc.). Does Debian provide such tools
> (even if clearly they don't work for all situations)?
Generally, yes, either through command line tools or (previously
mentioned) far saner config files.
Peace.
--
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