The bit that really caught my attention (partial quote):
...I realised that I didn’t trust the build quality of the [Ubuntu] LTS releases as much as I trusted the build quality of Debian stable releases. Thinking about it further, I was having a hard time convincing myself to run an Ubuntu server. The reason being the way packages are tested in the Debian repositories. Consider for example a package that’s uploaded to the unstable repository. Before that package can reach the testing repository, it much meet certain criteria:
After the package has been in unstable for a given length of time, it can qualify for migration to testing. This depends on each package, and the urgency of the migration.
The package can only enter testing if no new release critical bugs exist. This means, that the package must have fewer release critical bugs than the current package in testing.
All dependencies needed for the package must be satisfiable in the current testing repository. If not, those packages must be brought in at the time the current package is, and they must meet the same criteria related to time in unstable and the number of release critical bugs.
The package migrating to testing must not break any other packages currently in testing.
It must be compiled for all release architectures it claims to support, and all architecture specific packages must be brought in as well, meeting the same criteria as mentioned.
The above criteria for packages entering the testing repository ensure that packages are reaching a bug-free state for the next stable release. The goal is to have the number of release critical bugs drop and drop and drop approaching zero. Of course, bugs are only brought about by an active community reporting them, then decided on whether or not the bug is critical enough to be labelled a release critical bug. After the packages in testing have reached sufficient maturity and have few enough bugs to qualify a release, the testing repository is brought to stable. The current stable becomes “old stable”, and the current testing is reprepared for the next stable release. So, in theory, the stable distribution is STABLE. Rock sold stable. Anyone who’s anyone in the Linux world knows that Debian stable is just about as stable as you can get for an operating system...
Interesting take on Ubuntu vs Debian
I just found an interesting article on Ubuntu vs Debian for server use.
The bit that really caught my attention (partial quote):
...I realised that I didn’t trust the build quality of the [Ubuntu] LTS releases as much as I trusted the build quality of Debian stable releases. Thinking about it further, I was having a hard time convincing myself to run an Ubuntu server. The reason being the way packages are tested in the Debian repositories. Consider for example a package that’s uploaded to the unstable repository. Before that package can reach the testing repository, it much meet certain criteria:
After the package has been in unstable for a given length of time, it can qualify for migration to testing. This depends on each package, and the urgency of the migration.
The package can only enter testing if no new release critical bugs exist. This means, that the package must have fewer release critical bugs than the current package in testing.
All dependencies needed for the package must be satisfiable in the current testing repository. If not, those packages must be brought in at the time the current package is, and they must meet the same criteria related to time in unstable and the number of release critical bugs.
The package migrating to testing must not break any other packages currently in testing.
It must be compiled for all release architectures it claims to support, and all architecture specific packages must be brought in as well, meeting the same criteria as mentioned.
The above criteria for packages entering the testing repository ensure that packages are reaching a bug-free state for the next stable release. The goal is to have the number of release critical bugs drop and drop and drop approaching zero. Of course, bugs are only brought about by an active community reporting them, then decided on whether or not the bug is critical enough to be labelled a release critical bug. After the packages in testing have reached sufficient maturity and have few enough bugs to qualify a release, the testing repository is brought to stable. The current stable becomes “old stable”, and the current testing is reprepared for the next stable release. So, in theory, the stable distribution is STABLE. Rock sold stable. Anyone who’s anyone in the Linux world knows that Debian stable is just about as stable as you can get for an operating system...
Definately food for thought!