Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-07 Thread Steven Demetrius

Joe McDonagh wrote:

At the risk of starting a huge religious war:

1. Preseed vs. kickstart

If you're only running at home or only a few machines at work, you're 
not going to run into this. Once you're done a RH install a .ks file is 
dropped under /root. You can now use this file to kickstart identical 
machines in PXE in a couple of minutes. There is no such automatic 
generation in Debian. You have to create the preseed by hand, and 
testing a preseed file isn't so fun as you need to pretty much reboot - 
test over and over after you change stuff.


2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir

In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration 
file is under here. In Debian, anything goes.


3. RPM vs DPKG query subsystem.

No, not yum vs. apt-get or aptitude or aptsomethingelse. To find 
information with dpkg seems difficult and unwieldy. Example: Say you 
want to find what package a specific file belongs to. With dpkg you 
should a dpkg-query -s to search the cache. I don't like that. I just 
want to know what package a given file on the filesystem belongs to. rpm 
-qf $FILE, done. The query system is general in rpm is simple yet 
robust. dpkg-query just doesn't do it for me. And I also don't like how 
there are a bunch of dpkg-* files that split up various functions of the 
dpkg system.


Before all of Debian users pass a brick, this is mostly preference, 
except #1 is pretty hard to deny that RH makes your life a *lot* easier 
in that dept.


Stefan Monnier wrote:

it's pretty flawless. And I do agree about the ease of dist- new dist
in-place upgrades. I just find that my most common tasks are simply 
easier

on RHEL/CentOS.



I'm curious: which tasks are these, and in which way are they made 
easier?

[ to give you some context: I only admin my own 4-5 home machines and
  have only vaguely used RedHat a bit some 10 years ago.  I use Debian
  mostly because they better agreed with my view of the world back when
  I got to choose. ]


Stefan


  





1. Preseed vs Kickstart

There is a log of the install which one can use to configure Preseed. 
Also given some time the D-I team will surely cover this, if not already.


From experience, if you take the time to configure your Preseed file 
correctly and proof it then one install is all that is needed and there 
is no need for constant re-testing and re-booting.


2. Configuration files in Debian are under /etc either filed there or 
under a subdirectory.


3. RPM vs DPKG query subsystem

dpkg-query does not search the cache. It gets its information from the 
dpkg database.


dpkg-query -S filename will list the package that a file belongs to. 
How much simpler can it get using a console command!


Is it not logical to split up subsystems so that you can chose which 
subsystems you want to install and which you don't. Modularity 
simplifies maintenance and troubleshooting.


To avoid as you put it '...Debian users pass a brick...' making accurate 
statements would help.


A good place to start looking for accurate information on Debian is the 
Debian website, Debian Wiki and books such as The Debian Bible.



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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-07 Thread thveillon.debian
Received that personally, so forwarding to the list...

Joe McDonagh wrote :

 Hi, I just read an interesting article about FAI [1] (Fully Automatic
 Installer), which present itself as :

 FAI - Fully Automatic Installation

 
I've used FAI and didn't really like it, probably because it was kind of
overkill for what I was doing, and I prefer to stick with the OS's
native automatic installation software.


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-07 Thread Chris Bannister
On Thu, Mar 05, 2009 at 08:52:09AM -0600, Stackpole, Chris wrote:
 
 Stable. The fact people joke and make fun of how stable Debian is a
 testament to the devs who make certain that Debian stable _is_ stable! 

Stable as in unchanging. No new packages are added to the stable
branch whereas new packages are often added to the unstable branch,
hence its name.

Admins can just install stable and _know_ they'll have an unchanging
system (except for security updates -- which are carefully patched
against the existing same version).

IOW, unstable is not called unstable because it is buggy and likely to
crash.

-- 
Chris.
==
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god
than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other
possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
   -- Stephen F Roberts


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Lisi Reisz
On Friday 06 March 2009 04:17:09 Alan Hutchinson wrote:
 I am trying to install DEBIAN LENNY beta 2

Why use a beta?  Why not use the just-released newly released stable, Debian 5 
aka Lenny?

Lisi


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erratum, was: Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Lisi Reisz
On Friday 06 March 2009 08:24:10 Lisi Reisz wrote:
 On Friday 06 March 2009 04:17:09 Alan Hutchinson wrote:
  I am trying to install DEBIAN LENNY beta 2

 Why use a beta?  Why not use the 

 s/just-released newly released/newly released 

 stable, Debian 5 aka Lenny?

:-(
Lisi



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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Steve Lamb
Raleigh Guevarra wrote:
 Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?

When I chose Debian, CentOS didn't exist.

-- 
 Steve C. Lamb | But who can decide what they dream
   PGP Key: 1FC01004   |  and dream I do
---+-



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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Joe McDonagh

First it was free is analogous to saying In the beginning...

They still have a 'desktop' OS for the enterprise, and I wouldn't say 
they're re-focusing their direction on virtualization at all. 
Virtualization is a reality for all OSs, so that's like if you would 
have said MS is refocusing their direction on virtualization when 
their Virtual Server came out. It's just another piece of the puzzle for 
the enterprise.


Most claims about RH are the in the beginning type and it's like do 
people *really* still hold that against them? That was like what, 7 
years ago? They focus on the enterprise and any change in their business 
direction is because of a change in enterprise computing, simple as that.


Bill Thompson wrote:

On Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:06:56 -0500
Joe McDonagh joseph.e.mcdon...@gmail.com wrote:

  
And to the people who give a schpiel about what if RH shuts down 
tomorrow, not going to happen. Someone will buy RH before they get

shut down. They are the single biggest kernel committers and their
workforce is filled with some of the most talented engineers in the
open source world.




It may be true that RH is too big to disappear entirely, but what
about the inconsistency of their company focus? Many companies (mine
included) have already been burnt because of the way RH redefined their
distribution model. First it was free with optional paid support, then
they dropped the desktop, then they went with licensed Enterprise
support only (which is the only reason CentOS exists in the first
place, to provide community support for RHE) and now they are refocusing
on virtualization and who knows what support they are going to offer.
They may not shut down, but past history has shown that you can not
rely on the availability and support the company will offer tomorrow.

  



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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Joe McDonagh

At the risk of starting a huge religious war:

1. Preseed vs. kickstart

If you're only running at home or only a few machines at work, you're 
not going to run into this. Once you're done a RH install a .ks file is 
dropped under /root. You can now use this file to kickstart identical 
machines in PXE in a couple of minutes. There is no such automatic 
generation in Debian. You have to create the preseed by hand, and 
testing a preseed file isn't so fun as you need to pretty much reboot - 
test over and over after you change stuff.


2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir

In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration 
file is under here. In Debian, anything goes.


3. RPM vs DPKG query subsystem.

No, not yum vs. apt-get or aptitude or aptsomethingelse. To find 
information with dpkg seems difficult and unwieldy. Example: Say you 
want to find what package a specific file belongs to. With dpkg you 
should a dpkg-query -s to search the cache. I don't like that. I just 
want to know what package a given file on the filesystem belongs to. rpm 
-qf $FILE, done. The query system is general in rpm is simple yet 
robust. dpkg-query just doesn't do it for me. And I also don't like how 
there are a bunch of dpkg-* files that split up various functions of the 
dpkg system.


Before all of Debian users pass a brick, this is mostly preference, 
except #1 is pretty hard to deny that RH makes your life a *lot* easier 
in that dept.


Stefan Monnier wrote:

it's pretty flawless. And I do agree about the ease of dist- new dist
in-place upgrades. I just find that my most common tasks are simply easier
on RHEL/CentOS.



I'm curious: which tasks are these, and in which way are they made easier?
[ to give you some context: I only admin my own 4-5 home machines and
  have only vaguely used RedHat a bit some 10 years ago.  I use Debian
  mostly because they better agreed with my view of the world back when
  I got to choose. ]


Stefan


  



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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Nuno Magalhães
 2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir

 In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration file
 is under here. In Debian, anything goes.

I thought Debian[2] was supposed to be FHS[2]-compliant, although i'd
expect a webserver to have its data files in /srv/www[3] instead of
/var/www.

[1] http://wiki.debian.org/FilesystemHierarchyStandard
[2] 
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#ETCHOSTSPECIFICSYSTEMCONFIGURATION
[3] 
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#SRVDATAFORSERVICESPROVIDEDBYSYSTEM

Nuno Magalhães
LU#484677


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Joe McDonagh
The FHS doesn't have much to do with what I am talking about. IIRC both 
distros follow the standard, but it doesn't actually mandate much 
beneath /etc.

2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir

In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration file
is under here. In Debian, anything goes.



I thought Debian[2] was supposed to be FHS[2]-compliant, although i'd
expect a webserver to have its data files in /srv/www[3] instead of
/var/www.

[1] http://wiki.debian.org/FilesystemHierarchyStandard
[2] 
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#ETCHOSTSPECIFICSYSTEMCONFIGURATION
[3] 
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#SRVDATAFORSERVICESPROVIDEDBYSYSTEM

Nuno Magalhães
LU#484677


  



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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Jimmy Johnson

Steve Lamb wrote:

Raleigh Guevarra wrote:

Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?


When I chose Debian, CentOS didn't exist.



Steve, I agree.

I use Debian long time, I use desktop Linux, only sever I use is file 
and printer, I used to Debian, Debian fast, Debian has unstable, testing 
and stable for me to play with. Red Hat slow to install and configure 
and you not get updates unless you pay/not free, no love, so I not use 
Red Hat, CentOS same thing but software is free, but, no CentOS when I 
start using Linux and CentOS slow to install and configure, if I want to 
use RPM type distro I would use CentOS, it's good RPM type distro, Yum 
not to bad, but Debian all around better distro for me, fast to install, 
fast to configure and much more software to make me happy.

--
Jimmy Johnson

Bakersfield, CA. U.S.A.
Registered Linux User #380263
K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid)


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Kelly Clowers
On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 06:48, Joe McDonagh joseph.e.mcdon...@gmail.com wrote:
 At the risk of starting a huge religious war:

snip

 2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir

 In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration file
 is under here. In Debian, anything goes.

eh, I think this just what you get used to. Every time I get on a RH-based
machine and need to change a conf file, I get terribly lost.

 3. RPM vs DPKG query subsystem.

 No, not yum vs. apt-get or aptitude or aptsomethingelse. To find information
 with dpkg seems difficult and unwieldy. Example: Say you want to find what
 package a specific file belongs to. With dpkg you should a dpkg-query -s to
 search the cache. I don't like that. I just want to know what package a
 given file on the filesystem belongs to. rpm -qf $FILE, done.

I use dpkg -S for that, personally; and dpkg -L to list the files that belong
to a package. AFAIK, dpkg can do just about anything dpkg-query and dpkg-deb
can do (it acts as a frontend to those commands). Anyway, I don't see that
much difference between dpkg -S, dpkg-query -S, and rpm -qf.

 The query
 system is general in rpm is simple yet robust. dpkg-query just doesn't do it
 for me. And I also don't like how there are a bunch of dpkg-* files that
 split up various functions of the dpkg system.

I admit I haven't used rpm much at all, but dpkg has always done what I
needed.


Cheers,
Kelly Clowers


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Steve Lamb
Joe McDonagh wrote:
 Most claims about RH are the in the beginning type and it's like do
 people *really* still hold that against them?

They still use RPM?  Of course I really still hold it against them.  BTW,
don't top post.


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Steve Lamb
Joe McDonagh wrote:
 At the risk of starting a huge religious war:

About top posting vs. actually formatting your messages intelligently?

 1. Preseed vs. kickstart

 If you're only running at home or only a few machines at work, you're
 not going to run into this. Once you're done a RH install a .ks file is
 dropped under /root. You can now use this file to kickstart identical
 machines in PXE in a couple of minutes. There is no such automatic
 generation in Debian.

I take it you've never heard of dpkg --set-selections and dpkg
--get-selections?

 2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir

 In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration
 file is under here. In Debian, anything goes.

/etc/default...  But traditionally, yeah, /etc/ is where config files go.

 3. RPM vs DPKG query subsystem.

 No, not yum vs. apt-get or aptitude or aptsomethingelse. To find
 information with dpkg seems difficult and unwieldy. Example: Say you
 want to find what package a specific file belongs to. With dpkg you
 should a dpkg-query -s to search the cache. I don't like that.

Then learn your commands?

 I just want to know what package a given file on the filesystem belongs
 to. rpm -qf $FILE, done. The query system is general in rpm is simple yet
 robust.

{g...@teleute:~} dpkg -S `which mutt`
mutt: /usr/bin/mutt
{g...@teleute:/lib} dpkg -S libnss_files-2.7.so
libc6-i686: /lib/i686/cmov/libnss_files-2.7.so
libc6-xen: /lib/i686/nosegneg/libnss_files-2.7.so
libc6: /lib/libnss_files-2.7.so

 dpkg-query just doesn't do it for me. And I also don't like how
 there are a bunch of dpkg-* files that split up various functions of the
 dpkg system.

You know, I never even heard of dpkg-query until you just brought it up.
I've been using Debian for 10 flippin' years.  For those 10 years I have used
four commands in dpkg.

dpkg -s - show a package's description
dpkg -S - search for a pattern in packages
dpkg -l - list all packages
dpkg -L - list all files in a package

That is pretty much the extent that I have to know about dpkg without
referring to --help once every, o, 3-4 years.

 Before all of Debian users pass a brick, this is mostly preference,
 except #1 is pretty hard to deny that RH makes your life a *lot* easier
 in that dept.

Nope, pretty much all preference, and based out of ignorance at that.



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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Joe McDonagh
Hey Steve, I love that just by typing up here above e-mails I can make 
smug users like you go postal. I feel powerful.


That being said, I like learning things on lists. I joined the list to 
learn mostly. I used dpkg-query before thinking that was the query 
subsystem. I believe I got that out of a 'debian system' book, but then 
again you can't retain all information. Now I have been schooled and 
know better. Also, I was under the (right) impression that dpkg-query -S 
(dpkg -S) is a string search, which is a different operation than rpm 
-qf, though they can yield the same results.


I will comment in-line because I don't want to risk causing your brain 
to asplode from the rage associated with people who top-post.



Steve Lamb wrote:

Joe McDonagh wrote:
  

At the risk of starting a huge religious war:



About top posting vs. actually formatting your messages intelligently?
  


Unless the debian-list rules state top posting is 'illegal' then I will 
continue to top post. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but if you 
want to insult me, do it with a little more spice than calling me stupid 
in a roundabout way.
  

1. Preseed vs. kickstart



  

If you're only running at home or only a few machines at work, you're
not going to run into this. Once you're done a RH install a .ks file is
dropped under /root. You can now use this file to kickstart identical
machines in PXE in a couple of minutes. There is no such automatic
generation in Debian.



I take it you've never heard of dpkg --set-selections and dpkg
--get-selections?
  
Actually, I use debconf-get-selections to get files that I name 
$package.preseed and they sit in puppet. Puppet uses them to preseed 
packages for me. Like magic.


dpkg --get-selections actually I had never heard of til now. I ran it 
and it told me NOTHING. What packages are installed woo. I looked at the 
man page and that's apparently its function. If you think that's all 
kickstart does then obviously, I am not the ignorant one.


Tell me, where in a preseed do you set up LVM over RAID through d-i? Or 
how about you recall for me how recent the addition of automatic raid is 
to partman-auto? RH had been doing this for years, to top it off they 
drop a kickstart file for you under /root. I'm still actually kind of 
appalled that a list-nerd is insulting me yet tells me to use a command 
that doesn't even give appropriate info (dpkg --get-selections).
  

2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir



  

In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration
file is under here. In Debian, anything goes.



/etc/default...  But traditionally, yeah, /etc/ is where config files go.
  
ooohhh  really? Keen observation Steve! Thanks for that crumb kind sir. 
Got any other gems?
  

3. RPM vs DPKG query subsystem.



  

No, not yum vs. apt-get or aptitude or aptsomethingelse. To find
information with dpkg seems difficult and unwieldy. Example: Say you
want to find what package a specific file belongs to. With dpkg you
should a dpkg-query -s to search the cache. I don't like that.



Then learn your commands?
  
I would say I am pretty handy with the command-line, but then again, 
top-posters are sub-human dummies.
  

I just want to know what package a given file on the filesystem belongs
to. rpm -qf $FILE, done. The query system is general in rpm is simple yet
robust.



{g...@teleute:~} dpkg -S `which mutt`
mutt: /usr/bin/mutt
{g...@teleute:/lib} dpkg -S libnss_files-2.7.so
libc6-i686: /lib/i686/cmov/libnss_files-2.7.so
libc6-xen: /lib/i686/nosegneg/libnss_files-2.7.so
libc6: /lib/libnss_files-2.7.so
  
Yes even though it's a different operation it suffices. (well, 
dpkg-query did).
  

dpkg-query just doesn't do it for me. And I also don't like how
there are a bunch of dpkg-* files that split up various functions of the
dpkg system.



You know, I never even heard of dpkg-query until you just brought it up.
I've been using Debian for 10 flippin' years.  For those 10 years I have used
four commands in dpkg.

dpkg -s - show a package's description
dpkg -S - search for a pattern in packages
dpkg -l - list all packages
dpkg -L - list all files in a package

That is pretty much the extent that I have to know about dpkg without
referring to --help once every, o, 3-4 years.
  
Wow Steve 10 whole years! zomg I didn't even know Leenuckz existed in 
1999. That's the last millenia!
  

Before all of Debian users pass a brick, this is mostly preference,
except #1 is pretty hard to deny that RH makes your life a *lot* easier
in that dept.



Nope, pretty much all preference, and based out of ignorance at that.
  
If you think writing your own preseed is easier than just consuming a 
file already written for you with what you chose during an install then 
you are delusional.



  
You can have a sane conversation about this vs that without talking to 
someone like 

Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Michael Wagner
* Steve Lamb g...@dmiyu.org 06.03.2009
 Joe McDonagh wrote:

  dpkg-query just doesn't do it for me. And I also don't like how
  there are a bunch of dpkg-* files that split up various functions of the
  dpkg system.
 
 You know, I never even heard of dpkg-query until you just brought it up.
 I've been using Debian for 10 flippin' years.  For those 10 years I have used
 four commands in dpkg.
 
 dpkg -s - show a package's description
 dpkg -S - search for a pattern in packages
 dpkg -l - list all packages
 dpkg -L - list all files in a package
 
 That is pretty much the extent that I have to know about dpkg without
 referring to --help once every, o, 3-4 years.
 
And with apt-file you can search for files in packages which aren't 
installed yet. Another good program is debmany from the package 
debian-goodies. With it you can read the manpages and the files in 
/usr/share/doc/package of packages which also aren't installed. I 
like these two programs because I can read much things before I install 
a package.

Just my 2¢
Michael

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dialog - two people talking to themselves. 
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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Steve Lamb
Joe McDonagh wrote:
 know better. Also, I was under the (right) impression that dpkg-query -S
 (dpkg -S) is a string search, which is a different operation than rpm
 -qf, though they can yield the same results.

Not that it makes a practical difference.

 Unless the debian-list rules state top posting is 'illegal' then I will
 continue to top post. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but if you
 want to insult me, do it with a little more spice than calling me stupid
 in a roundabout way.

Might want to check the list archives on that before going too much
further.  Given the relatively hands-off approach the mods take with D-U a lot
of D-U runs on convention.  Run afoul of that at your own peril.

 dpkg --get-selections actually I had never heard of til now. I ran it
 and it told me NOTHING. What packages are installed woo. I looked at the
 man page and that's apparently its function. If you think that's all
 kickstart does then obviously, I am not the ignorant one.

Nope, just don't see the need for kickstart when other methods suffice.
BTW, you missed the point where --set-selections is the reverse of
--get-selections.  Thanks.

 Tell me, where in a preseed do you set up LVM over RAID through d-i? Or
 how about you recall for me how recent the addition of automatic raid is
 to partman-auto?

Ask me if it really matters to me when we've been going off disc-images
for about as many years.  Any case where disc images don't work kickstart
would not either.  Actually, I take that back, disc images work in places were
kickstart cannot.

 RH had been doing this for years, to top it off they
 drop a kickstart file for you under /root. I'm still actually kind of
 appalled that a list-nerd is insulting me yet tells me to use a command
 that doesn't even give appropriate info (dpkg --get-selections).

Gives you the packages for that particular installation.  Throw it into a
text file, set them on another install with --set-selections and, surprise
there Keanu, the exact same packages are installed!  You may say whoa now.


 2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir

 In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration
 file is under here. In Debian, anything goes.

 /etc/default...  But traditionally, yeah, /etc/ is where config
 files go.

 ooohhh  really? Keen observation Steve! Thanks for that crumb kind sir.
 Got any other gems?

Hey, I'm not the one who lamented configuration files being in /etc of all
places.  Really, they moved some, SOME, locations of /etc into a new directory
for you and this is news?  grep -r, man!  Cripes.

/etc/sysconfig/network

/etc/network

o, that was hard.

/etc/config/sendmail

/etc/exim4

Yikes, who'da thunk it?  Geez, now that I look at what's in there it has
less than /etc/default.  /etc/ is where the standard configuration goes.
Emphasis on S-T-A-N-D-A-R-D.  /etc/default is where Debian specific defaults
(see what they did there, sparky?) go.

 I would say I am pretty handy with the command-line, but then again,
 top-posters are sub-human dummies.

And people say top-posters can't learn.  Have a cookie.

 Wow Steve 10 whole years! zomg I didn't even know Leenuckz existed in
 1999. That's the last millenia!

Innit!  Of course you took that as epeen waving when it was just pointing
out that clearly it is possible to do without dpkg-query just fine.

 If you think writing your own preseed is easier than just consuming a
 file already written for you with what you chose during an install then
 you are delusional.

No, I just prefer other methods which are far simpler.  Identical
hardware?  Image.  Disparate hardware?  dpkg --get/--set-selections.  Virtual
hardware?  Image.

 You can have a sane conversation about this vs that without talking to
 someone like they are mildly retarded.

Sorry, the difference between the mildly retarded and someone who hasn't
figured out the basics is that the mildly retarded may actually be incapable
of learning.  Someone who hasn't learned the basics is just a tool and
deserves the ridicule and mocking because they are clearly capable, just too
damn lazy.


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Michael Pobega
On Fri, Mar 06, 2009 at 02:06:29PM -0500, Joe McDonagh wrote:
 Hey Steve, I love that just by typing up here above e-mails I can make  
 smug users like you go postal. I feel powerful.


Actually, bottom posting is common in e-mail etiquette.

A: Because it's easier to read
Q: Why should I bottom post?

http://www.caliburn.nl/topposting.html
(I know this link refers to Usenet groups, but the same etiquette
applies to mailing lists)

That aside, I don't think top posting is a good representation of
someone as stupid. Just uninformed. 

 1. Preseed vs. kickstart
 
 If you're only running at home or only a few machines at work, you're
 not going to run into this. Once you're done a RH install a .ks file is
 dropped under /root. You can now use this file to kickstart identical
 machines in PXE in a couple of minutes. There is no such automatic
 generation in Debian.
 

 [...]
   

I am not sure if Debian has anything like Kickstart, but to be fair I
can't think of one time I would have needed it. Debootstrap/dd works
fine whenever I needed to quickly setup a system. Kickstart would just
be a superfluous app I'd never use.

 2. The disarray of configuration files vs centralized system config dir
 
 In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost every single system configuration
 file is under here. In Debian, anything goes.
 

 /etc/default...  But traditionally, yeah, /etc/ is where config files go.
   
 ooohhh  really? Keen observation Steve! Thanks for that crumb kind sir.  
 Got any other gems?

Actually, I find Debian to be pretty concise in where it stores
configuration files; I've never had trouble finding one. If it's not in
/etc it's in /etc/default -- Debian actually sticks religiously to the
FHS, which makes things fairly easy to locate.

 You can have a sane conversation about this vs that without talking to  
 someone like they are mildly retarded.


That'll be hard to have if you're feeding the fire too.

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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Tzafrir Cohen
On Fri, Mar 06, 2009 at 09:48:27AM -0500, Joe McDonagh wrote:
 At the risk of starting a huge religious war:

 1. Preseed vs. kickstart

 If you're only running at home or only a few machines at work, you're  
 not going to run into this. Once you're done a RH install a .ks file is  
 dropped under /root. You can now use this file to kickstart identical  
 machines in PXE in a couple of minutes.  There is no such automatic  
 generation in Debian. 

RTFM http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/apbs03.html.en

  An alternative method is to do a manual installation and then, after
  rebooting, use the debconf-get-selections from the debconf-utils package
  to dump both the debconf database and the installer's cdebconf database
  to a single file:

  $ debconf-get-selections --installer  file
  $ debconf-get-selections  file

  However, a file generated in this manner will have some items that
  should not be preseeded, and the example file is a better starting place
  for most users. 

 You have to create the preseed by hand, and  
 testing a preseed file isn't so fun as you need to pretty much reboot -  
 test over and over after you change stuff.

When I needed to mess with kickstart a while ago I had to spend a number
of troubleshooting cycles just to get the right list of packages to add.
There's a nice place you can list them. But the installer will not
resolve dependencies :-(

Furthermore, I couldn't figure out a way to just ass an extra yum source
and also get packages from there. As a result we had to do that in a
post-install script. At the moment we have a very complex logic in a
post install script.

With preseed I just feed it an extra packages source, the list of
packages I really want, and that's all.

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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Tzafrir Cohen
On Fri, Mar 06, 2009 at 02:06:29PM -0500, Joe McDonagh wrote:

[snip]

 I will comment in-line because I don't want to risk causing your brain  
 to asplode from the rage associated with people who top-post.

 Steve Lamb wrote:
 Joe McDonagh wrote:
   
 At the risk of starting a huge religious war:
 

 About top posting vs. actually formatting your messages intelligently?
   

 Unless the debian-list rules state top posting is 'illegal' then I will  
 continue to top post. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, 
[potentially flamatory part removed]

Not a policy. But usually I'm too lazy to edit messages of top-posters
in a way that will leave relevant context. So I end up just trimming
away all the potential context you left below.

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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Bill Thompson
On Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:33:16 -0800
Stephan g...@wickedclips.net wrote:

 
 Bill Thompson wrote:On Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:06:56 -0500
 Joe McDonagh joseph.e.mcdon...@gmail.com wrote:

 And to the people who give a schpiel about what if RH shuts down 
 tomorrow, not going to happen. Someone will buy RH before they get
 shut down. They are the single biggest kernel committers and their
 workforce is filled with some of the most talented engineers in
 the open source world.

 It may be true that RH is too big to disappear entirely, but what
 about the inconsistency of their company focus? Many companies (mine
 included) have already been burnt because of the way RH redefined
 their distribution model. First it was free with optional paid
 support, then they dropped the desktop, then they went with licensed
 Enterprise support only (which is the only reason CentOS exists in
 the first place, to provide community support for RHE) and now they
 are refocusing on virtualization and who knows what support they are
 going to offer. They may not shut down, but past history has shown
 that you can not rely on the availability and support the company
 will offer tomorrow.
 
 That was exactly my point.  I'm not an open source fanboy mind you;
 without the corporate model, there wouldn't *be* any microcomputers.
 It simply important to remember that corporations rarely give
 products and services away out of charity, and ultimately revenue is
 easier to achieve by making increasing the quality of solutions to
 justify increasing the price tag, ultimately resulting in many
 products being sold on hype alone (coughcoughVista) and not their
 intrinsic value.  So long as CentOS exists under the corporate
 guardianship as a stepchild of Red Hat, it's features and
 functionality will reflect the corporate goals of RH.  That isn't
 necessarily a bad thing; but it is *some* thing to consider when
 making a final decision.
 
 Stephan

You make a good point about supporting RH and their efforts to develop
Linux. However, using CentOS does not support the company or their
revenues. My understanding is that CentOS is an independent group and
is not managed by RH directly. In fact, I believe that using CentOS in
conjunction with a licensed RHE installation violates the terms of the
RH support agreement. That was the case when I looked into this several
years ago, but RH may have since changed that agreement.

If you truly feel that RH should be given financial support
for their efforts and you can base your IT infrastructure on their
business decisions, you should license RHE directly and not use one of
the unofficial RH derivatives. My company could not make that decision,
so we opted for Debian. Since then I have not needed to review support
contracts and licensees for our Linux installations or worry much about
the future of the distribution.

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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Stephan




Joe
McDonagh wrote:

2. The disarray of configuration files vs
centralized system config dir In RH you have /etc/sysconfig. Almost
every single system configuration file is under here. In Debian,
anything goes.
  

And I think this is where preference comes in; generally, if I've
installed program 'bumpersticker', I can bet that it's configuration
files will be under /etc/bumpersticker/bumpersticker.conf  .  On the
off chance that it's not, I can 'dpkg -L bumpersticker' and it's
location is revealed.


3. RPM vs DPKG query subsystem.
  
  
No, not yum vs. apt-get or aptitude or aptsomethingelse. To find
information with dpkg seems difficult and unwieldy. Example: Say you
want to find what package a specific file belongs to. With dpkg you
should a dpkg-query -s to search the cache. I don't like that. I just
want to know what package a given file on the filesystem belongs to.
rpm -qf $FILE, done. The query system is general in rpm is simple yet
robust. dpkg-query just doesn't do it for me. And I also don't like how
there are a bunch of dpkg-* files that split up various functions of
the dpkg system.
  

apt-cache search FILE.


I just now took a look at my system , and saw a file /sbin/mii-tool and
thought "hrm, what the heck does that do?" 
"apt-cache search mii-tool"  output: "net-tools - The NET-3 networking
toolkit"


No muss, no fuss.  Of course, you could always try the following
command


Google- mii-tool Debian


The first hit listed "Debian -- Details of package net-tools in lenny"


I've found many unfamiliar package descriptions to be as cryptic as the
file names themselves, so I figure if I'm going to have to hit the
search engine anyway I'll cut out the middle man.  And there's the most
effective search here:  http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages#search_contents


Before all of Debian users pass a brick, this
is mostly preference, except #1 is pretty hard to deny that RH makes
your life a *lot* easier in that dept.
  

Better verses worse debates are often ugly.  Comparing any Linux distro
is like comparing fuji apples to golden delicious.  I'm just pointing
out that a system always gets easier to use when you become more
familiar with how it works.


Stephan







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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread Stephan




Bill Thompson wrote:

  On Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:33:16 -0800
Stephan g...@wickedclips.net wrote:

  
  

  
It may be true that RH is too big to disappear entirely, but what
about the inconsistency of their company focus? Many companies (mine
included) have already been burnt because of the way RH redefined
their distribution model. First it was free with optional paid
support, then they dropped the desktop, then they went with licensed
Enterprise support only (which is the only reason CentOS exists in
the first place, to provide community support for RHE) and now they
are refocusing on virtualization and who knows what support they are
going to offer. They may not shut down, but past history has shown
that you can not rely on the availability and support the company
will offer tomorrow.
  

That was exactly my point.� I'm not an open source fanboy mind you;
without the corporate model, there wouldn't *be* any microcomputers.
It simply important to remember that corporations rarely give
products and services away out of charity, and ultimately revenue is
easier to achieve by making increasing the quality of solutions to
justify increasing the price tag, ultimately resulting in many
products being sold on hype alone (coughcoughVista) and not their
intrinsic value.� So long as CentOS exists under the corporate
guardianship as a stepchild of Red Hat, it's features and
functionality will reflect the corporate goals of RH.� That isn't
necessarily a bad thing; but it is *some* thing to consider when
making a final decision.

Stephan

  
  
You make a good point about supporting RH and their efforts to develop
Linux. However, using CentOS does not support the company or their
revenues. My understanding is that CentOS is an independent group and
is not managed by RH directly. 

That's exactly what they claim on their website FAQ at centos.org. 
Having said that, it can only be beneficial to Red Hat for CentOS to
operate, as it provides a stepping stone for new administrators in
smaller companies trying to make decisions about their IT department to
start with the 'free' version, and as their needs become more advanced
and complicated, they'll start requiring consultants, technical
support, etc.  It's why Microsoft happily donates operating systems to
schools; children grow up on Windows, and expect to be familiar with it
as adults.

  In fact, I believe that using CentOS in
conjunction with a licensed RHE installation violates the terms of the
RH support agreement. That was the case when I looked into this several
years ago, but RH may have since changed that agreement.

If you truly feel that RH should be given financial support
for their efforts and you can base your IT infrastructure on their
business decisions, you should license RHE directly and not use one of
the unofficial RH derivatives. My company could not make that decision,
so we opted for Debian. Since then I have not needed to review support
contracts and licensees for our Linux installations or worry much about
the future of the distribution.
I wouldn't
  

Nor do I ;)  I'd be posting in the Fedora mailing list otherwise.

Stephan




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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-06 Thread thveillon.debian
Michael Pobega wrote :
 
 I am not sure if Debian has anything like Kickstart, but to be fair I
 can't think of one time I would have needed it. Debootstrap/dd works
 fine whenever I needed to quickly setup a system. Kickstart would just
 be a superfluous app I'd never use.
 


Hi, I just read an interesting article about FAI [1] (Fully Automatic
Installer), which present itself as :

FAI - Fully Automatic Installation

FAI is an automated installation tool to install or deploy Debian
GNU/Linux and other distributions on a bunch of different hosts or a
Cluster. It's more flexible than other tools like kickstart for Red Hat,
autoyast and alice for SuSE or Jumpstart for SUN Solaris. FAI can also
be used for configuration management of a running system.

You can take one or more virgin PCs, turn on the power and after a few
minutes Linux is installed, configured and running on all your machines,
without any interaction necessary.

Maybe it's relevant to the _controversy_ debate ?

And best news is:

aptitude search fai
p   fai-client - Fully Automatic Installation client package
p   fai-doc- Documentation for FAI
p   fai-nfsroot- Fully Automatic Installation nfsroot package
p   fai-quickstart - Fully Automatic Installation quickstart package
p   fai-server - Fully Automatic Installation server package

[1] http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai/


Tom


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RE: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-05 Thread Stackpole, Chris
From: Raleigh Guevarra [mailto:death...@yahoo.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 7:11 PM
Subject: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

 

[snip]

Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?

[snip]

 

I /really/ like CentOS. However, I choose Debian over CentOS for a few
reasons.

 

Apt. YUM is getting better but I hit dependency hell only a few months
ago with it. No admin should /ever/ deal with that.

 

Package caching. When you have dozens of servers, blindly doing updates
is a bad idea but updating individually can be near impossible. Setting
up a package repository so that packages you want get updated when you
want them to is something that 'unnamed north American vendors' make you
pay for and it isn't the easiest of tasks in CentOS. It is trivial w/
Debian (I am aware of at _least_ two guides being written and commented
on within this mailing list within the last 6 months). A side bonus to
this, instead of pulling X MB of data for each update on each server and
wasting bandwidth, a Debian package cacher pulls once and shares with
the rest. I personally have not found a solid way of doing this within
the YUM/RPM world. An extra side bonus, which is faster your bandwidth
or your network speed? Having 30+ servers pull X MB from the internet,
or one pulling from the internet and the rest pulling over the network?
I love my package cacher. :-)

 

Smaller install base. The last thing you need on a production server is
a bunch of unneeded packages. Fewer packages means less updates, less
things to break, and more time for you to do productive tasks.

 

Flexibility and recovery. You really have to plan for things to go
wrong. Bad drives, bad motherboard, bad whatever you will come into work
one day with a server down (hopefully you have planned this in advance
and your users will never know). Debian is much more flexible in my
opinion when it comes to dealing with outages, backups, and recovery.
Combine the above mentioned package cacher and a good backup of data and
I can do (have done and will do) /a complete production ready/ rebuild
on a completely different system in sub 15 minutes. That is base
install, all updates, all software, and ready to go with the users never
knowing they were on a different system. While I can do most of the same
things with CentOS, I just have not ever been able to get the installer
and updates that fast. My average time still sits between 35-40 minutes
for a fresh rebuild of CentOS. Maybe 30 minutes isn't a big deal for
you, but it has been for me. 

 

Stable. The fact people joke and make fun of how stable Debian is a
testament to the devs who make certain that Debian stable _is_ stable! 

 

Anyway, that is my 2 cents.

 

Have fun!

~Stack~



Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-05 Thread Joe McDonagh

Because I am a masochist.

Just kidding. I inherited an infrastructure as part of my latest job in 
operations. I can tell you that from a SysAdmin/Ops Engineer point of 
view, Debian and its derivatives are not as quick to get to a nice 
automated infrastructure and require a lot of up-front glue to get 
things going the way you want. I am not talking just web however. Once 
they do work though, it's pretty flawless. And I do agree about the ease 
of dist- new dist in-place upgrades. I just find that my most common 
tasks are simply easier on RHEL/CentOS.


And to the people who give a schpiel about what if RH shuts down 
tomorrow, not going to happen. Someone will buy RH before they get shut 
down. They are the single biggest kernel committers and their workforce 
is filled with some of the most talented engineers in the open source world.


Raleigh Guevarra wrote:


To All Web Hosting Providers,

 

I need your help to prove and defend Debian to the CIO and a dozen of 
developers.


 


Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?

 


Both technical and logical inputs or explanation is greatly appreciated.

 

 


Raleigh





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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-05 Thread Bill Thompson
On Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:06:56 -0500
Joe McDonagh joseph.e.mcdon...@gmail.com wrote:

 And to the people who give a schpiel about what if RH shuts down 
 tomorrow, not going to happen. Someone will buy RH before they get
 shut down. They are the single biggest kernel committers and their
 workforce is filled with some of the most talented engineers in the
 open source world.
 

It may be true that RH is too big to disappear entirely, but what
about the inconsistency of their company focus? Many companies (mine
included) have already been burnt because of the way RH redefined their
distribution model. First it was free with optional paid support, then
they dropped the desktop, then they went with licensed Enterprise
support only (which is the only reason CentOS exists in the first
place, to provide community support for RHE) and now they are refocusing
on virtualization and who knows what support they are going to offer.
They may not shut down, but past history has shown that you can not
rely on the availability and support the company will offer tomorrow.

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bi...@mahagonny.com


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-05 Thread Stefan Monnier
 it's pretty flawless. And I do agree about the ease of dist- new dist
 in-place upgrades. I just find that my most common tasks are simply easier
 on RHEL/CentOS.

I'm curious: which tasks are these, and in which way are they made easier?
[ to give you some context: I only admin my own 4-5 home machines and
  have only vaguely used RedHat a bit some 10 years ago.  I use Debian
  mostly because they better agreed with my view of the world back when
  I got to choose. ]


Stefan


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-05 Thread Alan Hutchinson
Hi people I am trying to install DEBIAN LENNY beta 2 on a system that has
the   promise chip for raid 0,and i keep on getting boot failure what
would be the cause of this and also I would like to know how to format my
drives that has the debian lenny O/S on it,and try and make a clean
start,thank in advance.

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 1:10 AM, Raleigh Guevarra death...@yahoo.com wrote:

  To All Web Hosting Providers,



 I need your help to prove and defend Debian to the CIO and a dozen of
 developers.



 Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?



 Both technical and logical inputs or explanation is greatly appreciated.





 Raleigh




Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-05 Thread Celejar
On Fri, 6 Mar 2009 04:17:09 +
Alan Hutchinson thegreatal...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi people I am trying to install DEBIAN LENNY beta 2 on a system that has
 the   promise chip for raid 0,and i keep on getting boot failure what
 would be the cause of this and also I would like to know how to format my
 drives that has the debian lenny O/S on it,and try and make a clean
 start,thank in advance.

Please don't hijack threads; start a new thread for an unrelated
questions.

Celejar
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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread Nikos Chantziaras

Raleigh Guevarra wrote:

To All Web Hosting Providers,

 

I need your help to prove and defend Debian to the CIO and a dozen of 
developers.


 


Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?

 


Both technical and logical inputs or explanation is greatly appreciated.


Because Debian sounds cooler.  CentOS sounds like it's worth a cent.


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread Oliver Schneider
 I need your help to prove and defend Debian to the CIO and a dozen of
 developers.
  
 Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?
  
 Both technical and logical inputs or explanation is greatly appreciated.

- The superior package management system and its numerous frontends
- Painless upgrades to the next major release
- No crippled (+ slow) Perl :)
- The community, or rather the communities

// Oliver


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread Stephan

Debian vs CentOS

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/840600.html

Personally, I like the concept behind Debian.  CentOS is ultimately 
dependent on Red Hat, while Debian is essentially self-contained.  
Should Red Hat shutter their doors tomorrow, CentOS would eventually 
become another dead distro.  With the advancement and popularity of 
Ubuntu (based on Debian,) Debian users have both an advanced core group 
of users and developers to rely on (namely, the thousands of people who 
collaborate on Debian packages) as well as a thriving casual user base 
(the Ubuntu forums are extremely lively and helpful.)


Still, if I were in your shoes I'd do a test installation of both CentOS 
and Debian on a couple of my target machines to see which distro's 
glitches and bugs are easier to live with.


Stephan

Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

Raleigh Guevarra wrote:

To All Web Hosting Providers,

 

I need your help to prove and defend Debian to the CIO and a dozen of 
developers.


 


Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?

 


Both technical and logical inputs or explanation is greatly appreciated.


Because Debian sounds cooler.  CentOS sounds like it's worth a cent.





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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread Nikos Chantziaras

Raleigh Guevarra wrote:

Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?


To give a serious answer: because I know how to use Debian.  Choosing 
CentOS would lower my productivity because I'm not familiar with it. 
Time spent on learning it is lost money since time == money ;)



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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread Bill Thompson
On Wed, 4 Mar 2009 17:10:41 -0800 (PST)
Raleigh Guevarra death...@yahoo.com wrote:

 To All Web Hosting Providers,
  
 I need your help to prove and defend Debian to the CIO and a dozen of
 developers. 
 Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?
  
 Both technical and logical inputs or explanation is greatly
 appreciated. 
  
 Raleigh
 

+ Stability. 
Debian packages are tested through a unstable-testing-stable release
cycle and are not dependent on a time-table for release.

+ Reliability.
Debian is 100% community based and not reliant on a prominent North
American Enterprise Linux vendor that may change their distribution or
development strategy due to market forces. As long as there are
developers interested in Debian, there will be a Debian system to use.

+Package management and administration tools.
Covered by Oliver Schneider

+Reputation
All the cool kids use Debian. Debian/rules ;)

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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread ghe
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA1

Raleigh Guevarra wrote:

 Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?

Apt over RPM -- works more reliably.

I like Debian's (almost always) putting configs in /etc -- easier to
find and keep backed up.

The array of distro sets (stable, testing, etc.) gives a choice of
reliable to bleeding edge. Different features are appropriate for
different jobs, and Debian provides more than a one size fits all. In
tidy packages.

I never considered CentOS because it didn't exist at the time. I moved
from RedHat through Gentoo to Debian. They're well done distros, but
I've rarely missed them.

I guess all this boils down to my experience that Debian's more
reliable, and it's more rational and easier to administer and troubleshoot.

 Both technical and logical inputs or explanation is greatly appreciated.

How about emotional? I like Debian's attitude :-)

- --
Glenn English
g...@slsware.com

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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread steve
Bill Thompson wrote:

 
 +Reputation
 All the cool kids use Debian. Debian/rules ;)
 

+1


http://blogs.pcmag.com/atwork/2008/07/why_debians_still_a_great_distro_choice.php
http://people.debian.org/~srivasta/talks/why_debian/talk.html

I could post links all day but it seems pointless.  Debian is THE rock
solid distro by which all others are judged.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#Debian-based

vs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions#Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-based



let your CIO do the math.






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Steve Reilly

http://reillyblog.com

~ Netiquette ~
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec99/pirillo1.htm





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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread Carl Fink
CentOS didn't exist when I started using Debian, and I'm used to it now.
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Read my blog at blog.nitpicking.com.  Reviews!  Observations!
Stupid mistakes you can correct!


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread Louie Miranda
For me, even if I am a Debian user and admin. I still choosed Cent OS?

Why: Not sure if cPanel would be ok with Debian.

But, if Debian will surely release a note or cPanel? an article about it, I
will definitely switch my server anytime! :)
--
Louie Miranda (lmira...@gmail.com)
http://www.louiemiranda.net

Quality Web Hosting - www.axishift.com
Pinoy Web Hosting, Web Hosting Philippines


On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 12:15 PM, Carl Fink ca...@panix.com wrote:

 CentOS didn't exist when I started using Debian, and I'm used to it now.
 --
 Carl Fink   nitpick...@nitpicking.com

 Read my blog at blog.nitpicking.com.  Reviews!  Observations!
 Stupid mistakes you can correct!


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread H.S.
Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

 
 Because Debian sounds cooler.  CentOS sounds like it's worth a cent.
 
 

This one should be saved for the marketing people. They would definitely
go for this one. That is one department less to convince.

:)


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Re: Why did you chose Debian over CentOS?

2009-03-04 Thread Andrew M.A. Cater
On Wed, Mar 04, 2009 at 06:45:35PM -0700, ghe wrote:
 -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
 Hash: SHA1
 
 Raleigh Guevarra wrote:
 
  Why did you chose Debian over CentOS to host dozens of websites?
 

Not to host dozens of websites - but to host crucial servers.

Minimalism: a Debian base install is tiny compared to a 
RH/CentOS base. You can add individual packages easily. In my (limited) 
experience, a RH base may pull in 900M (including unnecessary X Windows) 
of packages versus Debian's 200M.

Security: As the admin, you can control services more readily. [Though 
Debian base install does include NFS, which you'll want to remove].

dpkg --get-selections  myfilelist 

... move to different machine ... 

dpkg --set-selections  myfilelist 

which will work pretty well even if you move architectures 
between, say, Sun and x86 :)

All IMHO - Just my 0.02 Euros

Andy



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