[ale] Question for Debian users

[Holmquist, Thomas W.]

yes, apt-get is the best tool ever.

to install packages you do apt-get install package1 package2 (ex. apt-get install mozilla)
It downloads, installs, and configures the packages automatically.
I run stable on all my servers, and unstable on all my desktop.

another cool thing is when you first install debian, it only has a few basic packages, (ex. a shell, text editor, kernel, etc.) this way, you dont have programs you don't need and dont need.

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org]On Behalf Of
Robert L. Harris
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 9:06 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Cc: Greg
Subject: Re: [ale] Question for Debian users




I pretty much have to agree.  If you want a system that is amazingly
stable and secure get Debian Stable.  I run Debian Unstable on all my
home machines.  In 2 years I have 2 things break (perl once and a
library the other).  Since Debian keeps packages local to disk it's easy
to roll back if you want as well as long as you haven't cleaned up.  I
usually clean up about a week after an update.

It's also very secure.  Debian does roll out updates very quickly to
Stable for security updates.

Upgrading from Debian 2.2 to Debian 3.0 was simple:

  apt-get update
  apt-get dist-upgrade

On my other machines I did this:
  apt-get update
  apt-get -y dist-upgrade

which automatically did all the upgrade except for required questions.




Thus spake David Corbin (dcorbin at machturtle.com):

> On Sunday 09 November 2003 20:02, Greg wrote:
> > I was looking at Debian (as RH and Suse seem to be waning these days and I
> > have a more deep resentment over upgrading as I get older) and I was
> > wondering why Debian users like it over something like Suse or RH ?  I was
> > also wondering what y'all do for a version upgrade ? is it simply a "build
> > my pc" command and presto - the new os is done ?  Does Debian keep up with
> > the latest kernels and linux apps ?  Is it stable ?  The homepage info
> > makes it seem to be a pretty impressive system.
> >
> > Also, anyone have any experience with Debian on a Sun sparc64 box ?
> >
> 
> What I like best, is that IS stable.  It is very well tested, and very uniform 
> in it's behavior across packages.   Debian has 3 "versions" available at any 
> one time "stable", "testing", and "unstable".  Stable is just that, and 
> consequently it is behind on many version, though Debian does an excellent 
> job of providing updates for security bugs, even to the stable system.  
> Testing and Unstable are progressively more modern, and more in flux.  Even 
> unstable works "fairly well" most of the time, but you can run into problems 
> from time to time, if you update unstable a lot.
> 
> The other thing that is great, is apt - it's easy to keep your system up to 
> date, or to install new packages.  Upgrades are extremely easy.  Two 
> commands, and poof, I'm running the new version.  I've been through about 3-4 
> version upgrades, and it has never been a problem.
> 
> > TIA,
> >
> > Greg
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 
> -- 
> David Corbin <dcorbin at machturtle.com>
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale

:wq!
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Robert L. Harris                     | GPG Key ID: E344DA3B
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