[NTLUG:Discuss] Slack vs Redhat

[Kelledin]

On Wednesday 02 April 2003 01:49 pm, Patrick Parks wrote:
> I would love to get some input on what the list thiks of this
> subject. I have been using Red hat for a while, and really use
> to like it, up until they started doing things like not
> providing support for mp3 in their later versions.

You might or might not know this, but the mp3 omission is because 
someone cried wolf on MP3 licensing.  I would think Redhat's 
gotten past that now...but I can't be sure.

> I liked Red Hat mainly because it was easy to upgrade packages, 
> and there was always fixes available and easy to find for any 
> security vulns.

My main problem with RedHat is that they have this propensity for 
using pre-release/beta software.  Just look at gcc-2.96 
(redhat7) and glibc-2.2.99.xx(redhat8).  Then look at 
NPTL--integrated with Redhat9--which I wouldn't trust on a 
production system (yet) any farther than the end of my nose.  
This is stuff that just plain hasn't had time to mature.

> Speaking of security, I am running slack 9 on one of my
> machines and notice they are using inetd, instead of xinetd.

AFAIK this is because slackware tries very hard to resemble *BSD.  
xinetd is new and cool and theoretically better, but not really 
cross-platform de facto like the bog-standard inetd.

> Which distro do you think is more secure? Why would slack not
> be using xinetd in the newest version? Should I feel better
> using Linux from a large company like Red Hat, or with someone
> like slack?

Tough call.  I'd personally trust Slackware more than RedHat, due 
to RedHat's use of non-production-ready stuff like NPTL.  RedHat 
being a big company is a factor only if you're looking for 
corporate support plans.

AFAIK slackware doesn't have much comparable to up2date though, 
and some may complain about the reduced package set.  This would 
leave you needing to hunt down updates yourself or compile your 
own software, if it wasn't for http://www.userlocal.com/ and 
http://www.linuxpackages.net/ (formerly linuxmafia.org).

-- 
Kelledin
"If a server crashes in a server farm and no one pings it, does 
it still cost four figures to fix?"