[R-sig-Debian] Very general question about Debian...

[Johannes Ranke]

Hi,

* Petar Milin <pmilin at ff.uns.ac.rs> [090915 16:10]:
>
>
> Vera, Pedro L. wrote:
>> I am currently running R in a Debian-based distro (Antix) and I have been very pleased with the performance. I tried many other distros,
>> including Ubuntu (where I started my linux adventure) but I found that Antix is very fast, very flexible and suited to my needs.
>> There are other fine Debian distros out there, so I think it would be worth exploring other options to Ubuntu.
>
> Yes. Concept that i liked so much in Debian testing is that there is no  
> need to bother with upgrading, like with Ubuntu every six months, or  
> with Debian stable. And upgrading is a risky business I think.
> On the other side, Ubuntu IS Debian with some corporative support,  
> targeting end-user, hence, so polished. And that is good, specially for  
> beginners.
>
>> Currently, I have the option to keep my system rock solid using only stable repos or open it to stable and testing (which introduces some risk).
>> However, in a well-supported distro with a good forum where instability issues are discussed, this is not so much of an issue.
>> You will have to determine your comfort level with the risk.
>
> I tried, shortly, SuSE and Mandriva. Also, Fedora. All of those, in my  
> opinion are behind Debian and Ubuntu. Fedora is too edgy, almost  
> experimental. SuSe has ridiculous control system and is Microsoft  
> infected. Mandriva might be somewhat better then the other two for end 
> user.
>
>> All in all, I would recommend staying with Debian and testing out other distros to see which one suits you.
>> The advantage of linux is precisely the choices available.
>
> So, then, my question would be: stable or testing Debian? How do they  
> respond to changes in R? Is testing much more responsive?

I am running Debian stable and am backporting new versions of R to
Debian stable. On average, new versions of R should be available (on
CRAN) much earlier than they migrate from unstable to testing.

Kind regards,

Johannes Ranke

>
> Best,
> PM
>
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-- 
Dr. Johannes Ranke                 jranke at uni-bremen.de