[ale] Debian 3.0 as a server platform?

[Stuffed Crust]

On Thu, Jun 02, 2005 at 11:42:22AM -0400, James Sumners wrote:
> I have yet to hear anything to back up the "I need newer features"
> statement. People that have a distaste for Debian stable love to use
> it but they never give examples of it. What packages in testing or
> unstable are necessary for you to run Debian on a server? Please, give
> me some examples.

I've been burned too many times by -unstable to ever use it again 
on anything I care about, and even things I don't.  period.

Meanwhile, let's go back to -testing, soon to become the new -stable, 
but since this hasn't happened yet, we go back to the old -stable.

One machine's sole purpose is to run mailman and apache.  The mailman
release in -stable (2.0.11) does not have some of the antispam features
that the release in -testing (2.1.x) has.  In addition, I need to use a
2.6 kernel if I want this machine to be reasonably fast and stable (as
in, not croaking under heavy loads). 

(Many machines I maintain pretty much need 2.6 kernels if I want to use 
 the hardware to its fullest.  Newer hardware generally requires 
 newer support/system software, even if the applications  are identical)

Several servers I maintain need apache 2.0.   (-stable is on 1.3)
All of the PHP stuff I run needs php 4.2.x+   (-stable is on 4.1.x)
I have two servers running subversion 1.1.    (doesn't even exist in -stable)

SpamAssassin 3.x, Which needs perl 5.8 to run reliably with its
threading model.  Newest in -stable is 2.x and 5.6, respectively. I make
heavy use of sendmail milters which need relatively new-ish versions of
sendmail. I take advantage of some of the new features of Postgresql 7.3 
vs 7.2 in -stable.   The list goes on.

Some of these (apache and subversion, at least) are available via
backports.org, but not many, as people who want newer features either
use a different distro alltogether, or abandon -stable and jump right to
-testing.  Once you do this, you end up throwing away many of the
strengths of Debian, while retaining all of its problems.

Look, this is not a Debian bashing.  The good thing about Debian Stable 
is that it is so stable.  The bad thing about it Debian Stable is that 
it is so stable.  Three years is aeons in the software world.  

Fortunately, changes are afoot to make -Stable release more often.  This 
is a GoodThing.

 - Pizza
-- 
Solomon Peachy        				 ICQ: 1318344
Melbourne, FL 					 JID: pitha at myjabber.net
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur
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