[nzlug] ubuntu versus debian?

[Daniel Pittman]

David McNab <david at rebirthing.co.nz> writes:

> I'm about to install a 320GB HDD into my workstation, and given that
> my 5-year-old Debian installation is one bloated chaotic mess of over
> 100GB, I'm looking to do a fresh OS install.

Well, you could simply eliminate packages that you don't use, which
should clean things up nicely.  But, yeah, the fresh install has some
advantages and is the easy way to do that in bulk. ;)

> Ubuntu comes to mind, as a purportedly more 'human' version of Debian
> - with a much kinder IRC channel, where people don't ignore you or
> yell 'RTFS you f****** idiot!'

Well, no one can stop Ubuntu having over-enthusiastic or unhelpful
supports either, but yeah -- I generally find they do a better job of
balancing the community related issues than Debian do.

> My question is - for anyone experienced with Ubuntu and Debian - how
> does Ubuntu stack up against Debian?

I have very good understanding of both, and the short answer is:

They are almost indistinguishable from the perspective of a user, a
systems administrator or a developer.

If you are familiar with Debian you will have no trouble with Ubuntu
and, honestly, vice-versa in most cases.


I used to use Debian (stable on servers, testing, or unstable on my
workstation), and now use Ubuntu in both roles.  

Their support and security response is as good as, or better than,
Debian in most cases.

Their utility is pretty much identical and, with Universe, Ubuntu offers
the same suite of tools that Debian did -- where there isn't a suitable
replacement as part of core already.


Also, the next few releases of Ubuntu are probably where any real
difference between the two will show up: there is about to be a new
release of Debian, while Ubuntu are starting to get up to speed with
major distribution-wide changes such as their replacement init.

This is probably where the two will really diverge, if they ever do, at
a technical level.  The outcome over the next few years will be
interesting.

> (I see there was an article at
> http://techanchor.blogspot.com/2006/08/ubuntu-vs-debian-what-canonical-doesnt.html
> that every linux blogger and his/her dog have linked to, but it's been
> pulled.)

I don't know what that suggested, but the snippets everyone else links
to suggest that the deep, dark secret is that Debian contains more up to
date software than widely believed, and that Ubuntu is actually behind
Debian/testing in terms of software versions.

Which, at the end of the day, is not particularly deep, dark or secret.

Regards,
        Daniel
-- 
Digital Infrastructure Solutions -- making IT simple, stable and secure
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