Common problems with Ubuntu

[Amos Shapira]

On 14 May 2010 06:44, Udi Oron <udioron+linuxil at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi!
> The main benefit for me in automation on a *developer desktop machine* is
> saving time and getting stuff that really works.
> Luckily, in 2010, some software distributors are responsible enough to
> distribute their software in a way that their software is easy and fast to
> install and does not break anything, even if it is not packaged in the best
> practice available.
> Moreover, remember that putting stuff inside a "deb" package does not mean
> it won't break your system, or even save you from deleting important data
> :-)
> (Actually usually it forces you to install stuff as root).
> So: Speed + Stability + Latest Version vs. "best practice".  What would you
> choose for your *developer* machine?

You are right that putting things in a .deb doesn't magically makes
them work right.

That's where Debian's main package repository shines (or at least used
to back when I used it) - they put a huge amount of effort to make
sure that everything works together and packages don't step on each
other's toes. IMHO that's why their release cycles take so long (on
top of being a volunteer effort) but the end result are releases which
were pretty damn rock solid and well supported.

It won't have the latest version of everything but you just stated
that you care about stability more than about the latest wizz-bang.

If "solid" is the keyword for you then you should probably stick to
Debian, CentOS (yes, there are many people who use it as a Desktop) or
maybe SuSe. Personally I had only experience with Debian and Ubuntu on
the desktop.

Then again - there is the question of the target platform. E.g. if
they develop C++ program which have to run on CentOS (like our
developers do) then they need access to a CentOS development machine.
In our case we setup shared servers for them to login to from
whichever OS they fancy on their desktops/laptops, and a dedicated
off-limits "build" machine. If they develop for Java/Perl/Ruby/Python
etc then make sure they have access to the same tool set as the target
platform (e.g. Ubuntu already moved to Perl 5.10, CentOS 5 of course
still uses Perl 5.8).

--Amos