Comment by davb
19 hours ago
Further validation of our decision to move to Debian (as if the sluggish kernel updates and ramming of snaps down our throats weren’t enough). We migrated a few hundred lab machines this summer, and have around half of our servers and containers switched over. It has gone very smoothly.
We're an redhat (originally) and derivatives based shop for 30 years now, but if I was going to choose a different stable enterprise level distro to base a fleet on, there's a very good chance it would be Debian.
Why would you move to Debian? Have you used it recently?
I am struggling to remember, but the last time I tried Debian a year ago there was a lot of setup and a few things broken (I think it was outdated packages). One of the things I tried to setup was a RAID array which was a very involved experience. It felt like things were not being tested. While on RHEL it was a simple point and click in Cockpit.
My employer has similar plans. Ubuntu 24.04 will be the last Ubuntu release in use for production. Once the support period ends, we are migrating to NixOS.
I don’t have any skin in this rs-coreutils debate. But Ubuntu still hasn’t patched CVE-2026-98432. We’re migrating too
They have. I just updated my resolute system to the patched kernel 7.0.0-43.43. Patched kernel versions have been available via the -proposed pocket before: https://ubuntu.com/blog/fixes-available-in-proposed-pocket-f...
> we are migrating to NixOS
So you're moving from a distro that's being wrecked by ideologically-driven decisions, to one that is almost entirely ideologically motivated and notable for internal drama. Great choice, best of luck.
Care to elaborate?
Haha, I didn't believe what they told me about the community until I experienced the toxicity first hand.
Still wouldn't switch to another distro anytime soon, you know, sunk cost fallacy and all that.
i set up a bunch of machines at my new place. ubuntu.
my weekend project is moving them over to debian.
it pains me, ubuntu used to be “the” linux i would point people to. the “un-fuckup-able” thing people should try if they’re switching.
The Rustaceans will come for you too. While you’re asleep, they’re watching Claude port the entire Debian userspace to Rust in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
You're so very right https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50399400
2 replies →
As someone who's been using ubuntu since warty warthog, what did you end up switching to / what are other people using these days?
Debian for servers and could also be for desktop, though for desktop Mint seemed okay (still Ubuntu based, just without the focus on snaps and the Cinnamon desktop is nice; this one doesn’t fit the question exactly, but figured I’d mention it anyways cause had a pleasant experience).
Whereas on the RPM side Fedora is pretty good for desktop and something like RockyLinux for your servers (essentially carries on the spirit of the old CentOS).
Then again, I never really needed any of the more fancy modern distros, most of the time I just need good LTS and to run Docker, many might prefer Podman.
They said—Debian
doh - im an idiot. I read that as "from debian", assuming they were referring to the wider debian suite. TY.
I use Fedora if that's helpful. Well, I've been using Bluefin for the last few months and it's certainly different.
Bluefin uses sudors and uutils too!
I used to use ubuntu for most everything. This year I'm trying arch a la cachyos. It's actually super nice to not have to wait for hardware support and security patches. Has anything broken? Nope. In fact, things that I would just have to deal with as "teehee isn't linux quirky?" shit is mostly gone. Turns out that it really is as simple as canonical and gnome being the problem.
I honestly don't understand why there isn't more people talking about debian. Ubuntu is always mentioned, but it's going down hill, and debian is the obvious alternative. When I went from Ubuntu to debian, I got way more recent versions of my software. That used to be the only complaint people had with debian.
I wish debian would include ssh-import-id in the installer, its a minor change but big quality of life improvement that ubuntu has
would Userify solve that need for you? old but reliable
Whether Debian or Ubuntu LTS have newer versions of software really just depends on which was most recently released - they both have a 2 year release schedule but release on alternating years.
Debian testing seems to be more stable than what most distros put in main. I bend the rules and get most everything from backports to have the best of both worlds (stable + testing).
2 replies →
Ubuntu is a frozen debian/sid. At least it was back in the day.
I mean i switched because of current packages including changes like rust sudo if it makes it better (I do remember a few sudo CVEs).
Are you know running debian with testing or unstable?
[dead]