On Sat, May 03, 2008 at 11:24:39AM -0700, Mike Bird wrote: > Updating Testing workstations has proved to be much more > time-consuming than expected. > Unfortunately, we only have one workstation that can run > Stable. Some need Testing and most need a combination > We could (a) continue using Debian Testing, or (b) try > Ubuntu (again), or (c) ... ? > > Any non-flaming thoughts as to which distro to use for > workstations?
I'll assume that you mean that your workstations require a newer kernel than that in Etch which is why you use testing. What software do these workstations use? The reason I ask is that there is a market segment (including reportedly Yahoo! internally) that runs OpenBSD on workstations for the combined security and 6-month release cycle. There aren't many security patches that come out in those 6 months for the base system (which itself is fairly complete) and many security bugs in third-party apps (packages) which affect other distros don't affect OBSD due to the changes to gcc which they made. If all you need is a simple UNIX with X (OBSD comes with a simple wm) and you just want to add a fancy wm and Firefox, then OBSD may be great for you. If, however, these workstations are e.g. graphic-design workstations that require a lot of third-party apps or non-free graphics drivers, then OBSD either may not work at all, or be less easy to maintain than a debian box, since fixes are source patches. You'd have to patch on one box (or a dedicated build machine), make a new package, and then install it on all the boxes. I've never needed to do it, but it is all almost automated. Installing the packages is very much like apt-get. Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
