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Rolling release vs. fixed release Linux


securitybreach

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securitybreach

I do not agree with his final thought but still nice. Also, very neat that one of the lead Linux developer has moved to Archlinux.

 

Greg Kroah-Hartman, a leading Linux developer, recently announced that he had finally retired his "traditional" Linux distro for all "rolling-release" Linux systems. He's not the only one; rolling-release distros are becoming much more popular. So, you ask, what the heck is a rolling-release Linux distro? Well, I'll tell you.

 

archlinux.jpg

Arch Linux is the most well-known rolling-release desktop Linux.

 

A rolling-release Linux is one that's constantly being updated. To some of you, that will sound a lot like DevOps' idea of continuous deployment. You'd be right in thinking so. In both cases, the idea is that users and developers are best served by giving them the latest updates and patches as they're created.

 

There are several ways of doing this. One is to deliver frequent, small updates, which is the model that Arch Linux uses. Another is to replace an old image of the operating system or program with a new one as changes are added to the software. Ubuntu Core is taking this approach....

 

http://www.zdnet.com...-release-linux/

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This isn't really about Tumbleweed as the author went with Archlinux and not OpenSuse's rolling release.

Yes, I realize that. I was just stating my own preference for fixed rather than rolling release.
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securitybreach

This isn't really about Tumbleweed as the author went with Archlinux and not OpenSuse's rolling release.

Yes, I realize that. I was just stating my own preference for fixed rather than rolling release.

 

Oh ok. :)

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As much as I like Arch, which I consider to be easily the best rolling-release distro I've used, it's Debian Stable for my production machine. But I don't think Debian Stable can be called a "fixed-release distro" (and I note that the author didn't mention Debian at all). Unlike Ubuntu, openSUSE, etc., Stable gets released "when it's ready," not according to any set schedule.

 

All three approaches ("rolling-release," "fixed-release," "release when it's ready") have advantages and disadvantages. So I run Debian, Arch, openSUSE, and Ubuntu LTS!

 

Another one not mentioned in the article: PCLinuxOS. A rolling-release distro, but not really a "cutting-edge" distro. A semi-rolling-release distro, I guess -- sometimes, you do have to reinstall PCLOS, like when they went from KDE3 to KDE4, as I recall.

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I much prefer Debian's release model. Release when ready (ie. when all important bugs are fixed), as opposed to distros that release to a time schedule whether they have bugs or not.

Philosophically anyway, my main system is siduction - rolling all the way. :)

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