debian [was Re: tlug: Problems with Motif 2.0 and XFree86-3.3.1]

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Craig" == Craig Oda <craig@example.com> writes:

    Craig> Debian is pretty good.  I've used Slackware, Red Hat, JE,
    Craig> and Debian.  I've had very little package dependency
    Craig> problems on Debian.  I still don't like dselect, but dpgk
    Craig> works for me.

dselect is a crock but it works.  I'm discovering this is true of a
lot of Ian Jackson's stuff.  I haven't looked at anything beyond
dselect 1.4.0.8, but I suspect 1.4.0.19 won't be much better.  Still,
it dselect+dpkg-ftp really is a reasonable way to get and install
packages.

    Craig> On the side of Red Hat distributions, a recent issue of LJ
    Craig> says that it is by far the most popular CD-ROM
    Craig> distribution.

As compared to Windows95, say?

That's a relevant comparison, because that's why it's popular.  It's
trouble-free (mostly) for new users who just want to get started.  And
they do (mostly) fix bugs like the one that Blaine's facing right now
in a more or less timely fashion.  Just like MS....

But especially at system installation, if you've got requirements the
RedHat maintainers haven't foreseen, it's really hard to get around
the inherent limitations.  Most Debian stuff OTOH is implemented as
scripts and flat-file text databases; it's easy to figure out how to
do what you want by hand in the occasional case where it's needed.

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