[NTLUG:Discuss] RedHat 6.1 (+ dists in general)

[Steve Baker]

Kevin Brannen wrote:

> I'm not trying to say that SuSE is the perfect distro.  As I pointed
> out, there is at least 1 package that they are "behind" on.

Well, they have *production* schedules to meet.  SuSE wanted to ship
my Tux the Penguin game - and I made sure they had the very latest
version in time for their production deadline...by the time the
SuSE 6.2 CD came out, the code they were shipping was TEN releases
out of date.  That CD will be around for many months - by the time
6.3 finally appears, Tux will have moved on another ten releases.

I'll say this for them though - as a developer - I appreciate that
they ASKED me if it was OK to release my code (It's all GPL'ed so
they don't have to do that - but it's a nice gesture) - they gave me
plenty of warning to get a stable version out to go onto the CD - and
they send developers free copies of the FULL SuSE package (manuals,
the lot) for every new release.  They even sent me a second copy of
SuSE 6.1 when the only difference (that I could tell) was the printing
on the box!

A member of their staff calls me up from time to time to check that
I'm happy with the way my code was installed.  This is VERY nice.

Contrast this with some others - where they didn't even tell me they
were distributing my code - where they picked up the latest version
off my web site without asking if it was 'good'.  Debian chose to
install my libraries in highly non-standard places - and it was only
by coincidence that I happened to find out in time to catch that one.

When a distributor ships a bad version - or installs it badly, all the
problem calls come to *ME* not to the distribution's helpline.  Hence,
a poor distributor has the power to seriously inconvenience a developer.

It would be very useful to me to know (preferably in advance) which
versions of my code were on which distributions.

> I hope this helps others thinking about distros, but I can certainly see
> where the only way to "know" the "best" one (for you) is to install them
> all...

...every couple of months!

-- 
Steve Baker                  http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
sjbaker1 at airmail.net (home)  http://www.woodsoup.org/~sbaker
sjbaker at hti.com      (work)