[ILUG] Suggestions for best 64 bit Linux distro?

[John P. Looney]

On Wed, Jun 22, 2005 at 05:46:45PM +0100, nadir at compsoc.nuigalway.ie mentioned:
> I totally agree with your point on apt having it's dependancies correct, I guess
> I didnt phrase that sentance very well, but Ive had hell with rpm

 That statement, I'd like to take issue with. The last time I've seen a
bad RPM package from RedHat was one of the openssl updates that shipped
with RedHat 7.1. Since then, it's been wonderful.

 RPM, as long as you don't install something with --no-deps, or install
some flaky package off the web, it works wonderfully. Combined with apt or
yum, it's as good as anything out there.

 It's Achilles-style strength is it's simplicity. It's easy to make RPMs,
compared to debian packages. So everyone does. But, not everyone has a
clue, and RPM does give you enough rope to hang yourself. So people do.
They then let everyone download the same rope and hang themselves also.

 Just like you shouldn't call windows crap if a user runs some dodgy code
they found off the net, and it installs trojans, don't diss RPM just
because you managed to screw it up yourself.

 It would be nice if there was a "single source for RPM packages" that
people could build packages, submit them to a maintainer, be flamed red
for not adhering to LSB etc. - one killer advantage Debian and Gentoo have
over RedHat, who are more into making it easy for everyone to make up
their own package & let you download it from their webpage, with no Q&A at
all.

John 

-- 
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                                        -- Lucy Mangan