Richard wrote:
Hi,
I'd like to hear some technical advice on the
comparison of Fedora and Debian. If I want to mainly
run network applications, what package should I use?
GUI is not critical to me.
Both are community developed projects. Each embodies the same
philosophy of Open Source Development. Comparing the two distributions
requires the consideration of their respective release schedules.
Debian produces a stable distribution. To get a package to stable, it
must first work its way through the unstable branch, then the testing
branch, then stable. The last stable release came out two years ago.
This can be a misnomer, though. The "testing" and "unstable" branches
of Debian have many of the same packages as a Fedora release, but the
Debian developers do not consider them mature or tested enough for a
Stable, Production Quality Distribution.
Fedora produces an evolving distribution. Its bi-annual releases
integrate the most stable form of the newest packages available. It is
a bit of a testing platform through which RedHat can best evaluate which
packages are ready for its Enterprise release. Once upon a time, RedHat
released numbered versions, often several times a year. Deciding which
release was stable or appropriate for you or your business was
difficult, and the life of respective releases was undetermined.
You should ask yourself what you want to do with your server. You will
find a great set of tools and features in Fedora that are available
through the command line or a GUI. You will find that the non-gui
install of debian, while simple, can intimidate some. Getting X11 to
work with debian stable can be a challenge for some.
I run Debian stable on my home servers, and I install it for POS
customers for running their proprietary POS apps like Counterpoint.
Rock solid, headless, and uptimes are ended only by prolonged power
outages. I run Debian testing on my iBooks. I want the "newer" stuff,
like KDE 3.x, so I go with testing for these less demanding installations.
Many people on this list run Fedora. It is fun, it is new, it was
inspired by a local student, Warren Togami, and it creates some Hawaiian
pride for everyone. For a hobbyist or an open source enthusiast, it is
fun and exciting to use, it seems, for most.
The primary criticism of Debian Stable is that the packages are old.
Most of these critics are incapable of stating the technical merits of
the "newer" packages they profess to crave. I prefer, for stability and
reliability, to go with the least common denominator, so to speak.
Hopefully this helps without fanning the ideaological flames of our more
dogmatic users. You have a lot of choices, and hopefully others will
share their own opinions on the matter.
Perhaps you should state what Network Apps you intend to run in order to
shape the discussion along the lines of each distribution's version of
the Apps you want.
Thanks,
R
my pleasure
--scott
