Re: [PLUG] Linux distributions without version upgrades

[Rich Freeman <r-plug@thefreemanclan.net>]

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 11:24 AM, K.S. Bhaskar <bhaskar@bhaskars.com> wrote:
> But... Debian Unstable does temporarily break from time
> to time, and I am trying to find a slightly better balance between
> stability and life on the leading edge.  I suppose I could experiment
> with installing Debian on btrfs which would allow me to snapshot /
> rollback.

Yeah, if debian unstable breaks too often for you, then btrfs isn't
for you.  That is, unless you're VERY comfortable with a hex editor.
It is getting there, and holds great promise, but it is VERY
experimental still.  If you do use it backup often, and run a
bleeding-edge kernel (something you get out of git from the btrfs
team).

> Gentoo Linux (perhaps via Sabayon where I can validate hardware
> compatibility with a live DVD before I install).

Keep in mind that Gentoo does have a liveCD as well - it runs the same
kernel you'd get by running genkernel so if the one works the other is
likely to as well.  For the most part Gentoo ships standard upstream
kernels and udev/etc, so hardware compatibility is going to be pretty
good aside from any hacks some distro patched in.

I've never actually tried Sabayon, and I'll probably make a point to
do so sometime soon.  It is designed to be more user-friendly than
Gentoo, and combines a large binary package repository with the full
source repository from Gentoo.  In theory you should be able to
mix-and-match them, though obviously with the binary repository you're
going to lose the ability to tweak things or tailor them to your
march/etc.

I'd be interested in a compare-and-contrast of Sabayon from a former
Ubuntu user.  I suspect Sabayon falls somewhere between Ubuntu and
Gentoo in terms of rolling releases - having a binary repository they
obviously need to coordinate some upgrades.

Many of the key Sabayon contributors are also Gentoo devs or work
closely with Gentoo - I'd say that there is a pretty good sense of
cooperation between the distros.

Rich
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