questions about distributions

[jrv at vanzandt.mv.com (James R. Van Zandt)]

Peter <pfarrar at learningco.com> writes:

>     I've played with a little Caldera and Red Hat, but most my Linux 
>     experience is with Slackware.  It's the first distribution I 
>     installed, and I've seen no reason to change.

I started with SLS, which more or less evolved into Slackware.  I
resisted further change because I was more or less comfortable with
it.  However (after a major failure, I believe) I eventually tried
Debian.  *much* nicer.  A packaging system that tracks dependencies is
a *big* help.  Even beside this, I remember a strong impression of
having knowlegable help in administering my system.  By comparison,
administering a Slackware system was pretty much a "sink or swim"
proposition.  The Debian team had actually thought through the issues
and settled on a system that provided maximum flexibility.  

For one example, the "alternatives" system: If I install both "elvis"
and "nvi" on my system, then "vi" will be a symlink that points to one
of them (nvi, as I remember).  If I (as a sysadmin) decide to change
that, then the system keeps my choice when I upgrade either or both
packages.  If I remove the package that is currently "vi", then the
symlink will automatically be revised to point to the other.

Another example is the "menu" system.  Window managers typically have
a menu of applications.  Under Debian, this menu is automatically
updated to reflect the packages that you actually have installed.

Another example is the "emacsen" system.  Compiled emacs code runs
faster than interpreted elisp.  Code compiled by one version of emacs
can usually be run by later versions, but there can be problems.  A
Debian system maintains for each subsystem the source code (.el files)
and separate compiled code (.elc files) for each version of emacs that
is installed.  The source is recompiled whenever a new version of
either emacs or the subsystem are installed.


My summary would be: "flexibility first, ease of administration
second"

			- Jim Van Zandt
-
Subcription/unsubscription/info requests: send e-mail with
"subscribe", "unsubscribe", or "info" on the first line of the
message body to discuss-request at blu.org (Subject line is ignored).