(hmmm... top-posting) In truth, nothing I've read in this thread has seemed inciteful; not inflamatory at all. I think we all understand the passion we hold for the distros we use, but it appears we've been mature enough (ok, I'm sucking my thumb right now, so I guess I'm out) to give the OP some good insight into our experiences.
Just my 2 (fill in the currency of your choice) :-) Dimitri On Friday April 07 2006 2:51 pm, Gary W. Smith wrote: > Now we get to watch the body part's fly across the room. :) > > You know there are 3 things in life which you never ever talk about in > public; religion, politics and what OS is best. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Ryan Kather [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 11:24 AM > > To: users@spamassassin.apache.org > > Subject: Re: Which Operating Systems Do You Use and Why? > > > > > We can not seem to come to an agreement on the best operating system > > to > > > run > > > > > spam assassin. So we have decided to post this question to the > > mailing > > > list > > > > > so we can have other opinions. I realize everyone will have a > > different > > > > opinion on the subject and some will have none at all, linux is > > linux > > > and > > > > > unix is unix. So I would like to hear users experiences using > > different > > > > operating systems. Pros/Cons/Problems/Headaches/etc. The operating > > > > systems > > > > > I'm most interested in are Debian, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Slackware, > > FreeBSDs, > > > and > > > > > OpenSolaris. > > > > Now why do you have to go start a flame war ;). I guess I'll add my 2 > > cents. > > > > Let me start by saying they're all great choices (though I can't > > comment > > > on > > OpenSolaris). I prefer Linux. > > > > It seems to me that more and more development is becoming Linux > > centric. > > > It > > makes sense since it definitely seems to have a larger user base > > (though > > > I'm > > sure SA is very much developed with BSD and Linux in mind). I know > > when I > > > moved from FreeBSD to Linux I definitely noticed a performance > > improvement. > > This has also been very well documented several times.. In most > > situations > > > Linux outperforms BSD (though often at the cost of stability). > > > > Here's one such test, though it is slightly old FreeBSD 5.1 and Linux > > Kernel > > 2.6.0-test7. > > http://bulk.fefe.de/scalability/ > > > > It also seems that Linux gets a lot more interesting features, IMO. > > Reiser4, > > SELinux, LVM2 (does FreeBSD have that with online volume resizing and > > snapshots?). > > > > I would say you should analyze your needs. What are you most > > comfortable > > > with? You'll be happy with Linux or FreeBSD, so it's more a matter of > > personal preference. For a rule of thumb maybe you could say; If I > > want > > > to > > be stability centric == FreeBSD, if I want to be feature and/or speed > > centric > > == Linux. (Knowing that both are faster then *Certain* other > > operating > > > systems) > > > > As for my choice in Linux: > > > > I personally like SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) for my servers. > > Very > > nice update features, solid stability and performance, decent package > > selection, and YaST is quite nice if you don't like hand editing > > config > > > files. You don't need a gui to run it since it has full ncurses > > support > > > (RHEL's tool doesn't I believe). SLES 10 is due out this summer too > > with > > > some impressive bundling (XEN for one). > > > > Ubuntu seems a bit desktop focused for me as far as serving is > > concerned. > > > Debian stable is too old, but apt is amazing and as someone else > > mentioned > > > you can mix stable, unstable, and testing packages together so it's > > really > > > no > > big deal. Can't really comment on Slackware having only used it a few > > times, > > though I think it could use some better package management from what I > > remember. > > > > Gentoo is amazing. I would definitely say you should run Gentoo if > > you > > > want a > > testing environment for bleeding edge features. It makes a fine > > server > > > too > > if you have a few boxes and can use distcc to reduce the time to > > update > > > packages and distribute load so users don't notice. I have had a few > > cases > > where ebuilds have been broken. That's not fun. It's definitely not > > the > > > most stable for a server, but you can't beat it's package management, > > customization (except for maybe LFS), and speed. > > > > Ryan > > > > -- > > 'Twas midnight, and the UNIX hacks > > Did gyre and gimble in their cave > > All mimsy was the CS-VAX > > And Cory raths outgrabe. > > > > "Beware the software rot, my son! > > The faults that bite, the jobs that thrash! > > Beware the broken pipe, and shun > > The frumious system crash!" -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
