[ale] Ubuntu for developers?

[Michael B. Trausch]

David Corbin wrote:
> On Friday 20 October 2006 10:33, Michael B. Trausch wrote:
>> David Corbin wrote:
>>
>> Ubuntu is based on Debian, with some nice additions and (IMHO) better
>> software.  However, no package management system out there lends itself
>> to having "very explicit versions of various tools."  You may want to
>> lighten the requirements to be "tool version x.y.z or better"... just an
>> idea.  :-)
> 
> Easy to say, hard to do.  We've got 500 + systems that run with 4.0.16 mysql.   
> Using newer versions is dangerous, because code that works on the developers 
> box might not work in the field.
> 

If you wanted to do so, you could probably even take what you use
currently and build it into a dpkg that can be rolled out on Ubuntu
systems; that would allow you to keep the exact specs that you have, if
that is what is needed.

Ubuntu Dapper uses MySQL 5.0.21 right now, so that would be quite a bit
newer than what you're currently using.  However, you could just create
your own build (or use the one provided from MySQL AB, or whatever it is
you're currently using), along with its requisites, and put those tools
in /opt.  With the help of the alternatives system that Ubuntu uses, you
could keep such a configuration setup no matter what versions of Ubuntu
you wind up using for the base system.

I understand the idea of not migrating software at the speed of new
stable software coming out, especially in largely distributed
environments.  But, the devs would likely be more comfortable with
Ubuntu overall, given the way things just work -- I have been quite
impressed with it, and I've used Linux since 1996.  Granted, there are
tons of other options and opinions out there... in the end, I would
recommend trying different things and seeing what works for you -- but I
wholeheartedly recommend *against* any distribution that uses RPM,
because I have seen RPM flake out on systems quite a lot in ten years.
I simply have no trust for it.

	-- Mike

-- 
Michael B. Trausch <fd0man at gmail.com> - Jabber: fd0man at livejournal.com

Demand freedom: Use open and free protocols, standards, and software.

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