Forum OpenACS Q&A: Response to Best OS for OpenACS - FreeBSD or Linux?

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Posted by Edmund Lian on
My experience mirrors Stephen's. I've tried all the Linux distributions, and even ran FreeBSD for awhile. Debian is the easiest to keep updated. FreeBSD is great too, but the ports system it uses lacks the sophisticated dependency resolution system that Debian has. The regression testing that the Debian project goes through is excellent, and this is why it takes longer for Debian to fold in the latest/greatest revisions of anything.

If stability and reliability are important to you, you can't go wrong with either FreeBSD or Debian. I'd say FreeBSD is ahead in this regard, but not by much.

If you want a brainless upgrade/installation mechanism for your bad-hair days, I'd say Debian has the edge over FreeBSD.

In addition, Debian is a good compromise between stability, and the desire to benefit from the widespread device support and rapid evolution that Linux in general exhibits.

The only downside with Debian is that the initial install is not as smooth as other distributions. With the good documentation out there these days however, this should not be a problem.