[clue-tech] Distro musings

[David L. Anselmi]

Matt Gushee wrote:
> David L. Anselmi wrote:
[...]
>> Looks to me like Arch is great for developers or personal use.  From a 
>> sysadmin point of view I'd say that other distros (Debian especially) 
>> add plenty of value.
> 
> Okay, I'll bite. What is it about Debian that you think is especially 
> sysadmin-friendly? After three years or so of using Debian, I came to 
> think the configuration tools, packaging standards, etc. were just too 
> bloody complex.
> 
> To effectively manage a Debian system--at least, if you need any 
> customization at all--you really have to learn The Debian Way, which, 
> last time I checked, wasn't particularly well-documented.
[...]
> Well, I think I'm rehashing points I've raised in the past, so I'll cut 
> short my rant there. I'm just wondering what you gain by learning to do 
> Debian, other than being able to do Debian. It wasn't worth the effort 
> for me, but maybe it is for others.

For someone who wants to tinker, either to learn the gory details or get 
the system just so, Arch looks like a good choice.  pacman claims to do 
what aptitude does and ABS looks really easy to pick up (assuming 
someone's already packaged something).

As a sysadmin I don't want to tinker.  I want the official packages to 
do what I need.  I don't want to keep track of local mods to packages. 
I don't want a "simple design [that] makes it easy to extend and mold 
into whatever kind of system you're building".

I'm talking primarily about packaging decisions.  Obviously I'll 
customize config files as needed.  But the packaging is integration work 
and as a sysadmin there's way too much of that to do to do it yourself. 
  So I think the number of packages and architectures that Debian 
supports is value added for an admin.

Take a look at the first paragraph of http://www.infrastructures.org/. 
Arch seems to be better for "hand-made", Debian for mass produced. 
That's not to criticize either one, both have their place.

When you say "learning to do Debian" do you mean learning how it's put 
together, or how to operate it?

Dave