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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Is Debian with automatic updates a good idea? (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So a while back I threw Ubuntu 22 LTS on an old Surface Pro 3 and gave it to my Dad.

He loves it, but he's the type who's been burnt by updating software in the past, so he basically refuses any whenever prompted.

Been thinking about throwing Debian with Gnome on it for a while, and wondering if it's stable enough to just let updates happen automatically in the background?

I got no experience with Debian I basically jumped right on EndeavourOS as my main distro when I started using Linux full time.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Debian stable? It's probably about as safe as you can get for that. Problems are rare. Bookworm is supposed to get security updates until 2028. If they keep on being as stable as they have been in my experience the only one he's likely to notice is Firefox updating to a new major version once a year.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I honestly forgot Debian had a none stable version.

He's not too picky with web browsers as long as it...well browses the web.

I'll give it a go and hopefully get 4 years away from being tech support. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

All distros have a non-stable version.
Some have a stable version, too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I've been using almost exclusively Debian for over 15 years now, and experimenting with it (not stable) couple years longer. Last time I had issues booting or upgrading was loooong time ago, but I think I was using sid back then. (Yeah, I was young & restless back then! 🧓 🙃 )

Traditionally, the flipside of this was that the packages were sometimes old. Maybe 10 years ago I would still have reasons to complain about some parts being too old but nowadays I have basically no issues. Especially since most such gaps can be filled with flatpak or AppImage. (I rely on flatpak for Signal, Telegram, Minecraft, and AppImage for NeoVim and several other things.)

(My usage is development under i3+alacritty+nvim, browsing using qutebrowser (running directly from git repo), Firefox and Chromium, sometimes gaming, mostly steam or gog.)

One point, though, In my experience Firefox is updating much more often than "once a year", which is annoying because it basically goes on a strike every time.