Ubuntu Dapper and the distribution business [LWN.net]

Ubuntu Dapper and the distribution business

Posted Jun 1, 2006 7:52 UTC (Thu) by bni (guest, #27103)
Parent article: Ubuntu Dapper and the distribution business

I think it is unfair to put Fedora, Debian and OpenSUSE in the same category like this.

Debian releases are supported for several years and are very stable. Also when upgrading from old stable to new stable, the compability is generally very good. And we all know a new Debian release is a rare occurance, and I personally think this is good.

Fedora and OpenSUSE are cutting edge wich is fun, but not on "production" systems.

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Ubuntu Dapper and the distribution business

Posted Jun 1, 2006 11:32 UTC (Thu) by dougm (subscriber, #4615) [Link]

Yeah, describing using Debian as being on an "upgrade treadmill" is pretty rich. It would be a
treadmill that goes very very slowly... :)

[I'm a very satisfied Debian and Ubuntu user.]

The Debian treadmill

Posted Jun 1, 2006 13:12 UTC (Thu) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link]

Debian releases are supported for a while because, as you say, the releases are infrequent - though the project is trying to change that somewhat. However, once a Debian release happens, the support period for the previous release is (1) indeterminate, and (2) sometimes quite short. So Debian users who wish to continue being supported will have to upgrade to the current release whether they want to or not. It may be a slower treadmill, but the core issue is the same.

The Debian treadmill

Posted Jun 1, 2006 17:56 UTC (Thu) by ballombe (subscriber, #9523) [Link]

As far as fact goes:

Debian 2.2 was released on August 14th, 2000 and supported until June 30th, 2003. This is close to 3 years of support.

Debian 3.0 was released on 19th of July, 2002 and will be supported until June 30th, 2006. This is close to 4 years of support.

The support cover the whole Debian distribution.

In contrast Ubuntu 6.06 offer 5 years on 'server systems' and 3 years on 'desktop systems'.

So Debian 3.0 so has provided a longer support on 'desktop systems' than what Ubuntu 6.06 is promising.

The Debian treadmill

Posted Jun 2, 2006 0:21 UTC (Fri) by dlang (subscriber, #313) [Link]

the better thing to look at is how long a given release is supported after the next release is out.

the debian team is trying very hard to get etch released this year, so debian 3.1 would loose support by the end of 2007. This increased release rate in is recognition that very few people want to make new installs with old software (which is very different from the long support option where an old install doesn't have to be reworked for a long time)

the fact that Ubuntu is planning to continue to support this release for 6 releases (desktop) or 10 releases (server) is a huge difference from other free distros. debian by comparison is supporting a release through 1.25-1.5 releases, depending on schedule, redhat is supporting a release through 2 releases.

The Debian treadmill

Posted Jun 3, 2006 19:16 UTC (Sat) by pimlott (subscriber, #1535) [Link]

So Debian 3.0 so has provided a longer support on 'desktop systems' than what Ubuntu 6.06 is promising.

And how well is mozilla 1.0 supported in woody? In fact, supporting mozilla 1.0 in 2006 is a major effort, one Debian does not make.

Ubuntu Dapper and the distribution business

Posted Jun 8, 2006 14:18 UTC (Thu) by sobdk (subscriber, #38278) [Link]

OpenSUSE is supported for a period of two years. Probably not long enough for a server, but acceptable for the desktop.

Take a look at: SuSE Linux Lifetime