[linux-help] Re: Distros ( was Ethernet card setup / Gateway system)

[Greg House <ghouse@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Friday 06 April 2001 00:06, you wrote:
> I really don't want to cause a distro wars here.
>
> But what's the (dis)advantages of running Debian over RedHat?

The primary differences I've seen between distributions (in general) are the 
installation software and the packaging system. Beyond that, it's really just 
what packages they chose to include with any particular version.

Debian's package manager is more thorough at checking for dependancies and 
won't install an unusable package unless you force it to. It'll also go fetch 
the packages you need to install the one you wanted. 

RedHat uses rpm, which is more primative in that regard, but they've been 
working on some extensions to improve it in that area. Although I've heard 
that they're doing the RedHat Network thing as a subscription service (only 
like $10 a year) now, which made me a little sad. I didn't use it anyhow, but 
it was available.

Aside from that, there's the distribution and company philosophy, which is 
important to some. RedHat is a company set up to make a profit and they gear 
their offerings in that fashion. Debian is a volunteer-based organization, 
very "open source-y".

> I'd be more than interested in switching over to
> Dibian-JP, if the difference is HUGE.

From what I've seen, the differences in USE between Linux distributions are 
very minimal. Adminstration and installation may differ a little bit. The 
biggest difference I've seen in that regard is that Slackware uses BSD style 
init setup, and most of the rest of them use a Sys-V style. No big advantage 
either way, far as I know, it just puts the stuff in a different directory 
structure.

> We've been running this RedHat box without re-install for over a year, and
> it's heavily used between 2 of us.  I can't afford to switch the distro
> over unless there's a goooooood reason to do so.

If you're used to RedHat, and it's done what you've needed for a year, I 
don't think I'd change. There's a big learning curve to Debian's installer & 
packaging system.

hth,
Greg

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