Summary: Which Linux distribution is stable yet up-to-date

[Omer Zak]

Yesterday I posted my question about selecting a Linux distribution to
serve as the host Linux distribution for a system which runs Docker and
a virtualization system.

For such a system, I'll want to use a stable but up-to-date kernel.

Unstable distributions will be operated inside a virtual machine or a
Docker container, as needed.

Several people responded with suggestions.

Rabin Yasharzadehe suggested Arch and Fedora - both as unstable
distributions.
Shlomi Fish suggested Mageia, which gets a release roughly every 9
months. Its unstable counterpart is Cauldron. He had a problem using
VirtualBox (the virtualization solution which I am currently using) on
Mageia.
Yuval Adam claims that Arch Linux manages to be extremely stable without
losing the ability to get frequent updates.
Jeremy Hoyland suggested the use of Linux Mint. But he said nothing
about its stability.
Steve Litt proposes the use of a rolling release. He recommends Void as
more stable than the alternatives. Unlike me, systemd use or avoidance
is for him a religious issue.
Sara Fink suggests Gentoo, which has what to offer to both sides of the
systemd divide. Not clear how stable is it.
Tzafrir Cohen pointed out that Debian Stable strives to maintain a
stable interface to Kernel modules.

The winners so far are Arch and Void.

Yet another option is to use Debian Stable as the host operating system,
like I did so far, but compile and install my own kernel builds
according to the instructions in places such as:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/debian-ubuntu-building-installing-a-custom-linux-kernel/

User space programs, which rely upon bleeding-edge features of the
kernel, will be run from containers as needed, thus hopefully
restricting somewhat any damage they could cause.

Thanks to all responders.
--- Omer


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