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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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Does anyone know why SteamOS is based on arch rather than Debian? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Just got a steam deck and immediately checked out the desktop mode, and I was somewhat surprised to see KDE and pacman as opposed to GNOME and apt, I have nothing against the former though a strong preference for the latter, anyone know why Volvo went in this direction?

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[–] [email protected] 107 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Gaming support is still very much a work in progress all up and down the software stack. Stable distros like Debian tend to ship older proven versions of packages so their packaged software can be up to 18mo behind current releases. The NTSync kernel code that should improve Windows game performance isn't even scheduled for mainline merge until the 6.10 kernel window in a few weeks - that's not likely to be in a stable Debian release for a 12-18mo.

TL;DR: Gaming work is very much ongoing and Arch moves faster than Debian does. Shipping 12-18mo old versions of core software on the Steam deck would degrade performance.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It's pretty common to use debian unstable as a base. stable is not the only release that debian offers, and despite their names they tend to be more dependable than other distros idea of stable.

$ awk -v k=$(uname -r) '/^NAME=/{gsub(/^NAME=|"/, "", $0);print $0,k}' /etc/os-release
Debian GNU/Linux 6.7.12-amd64

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago

In my experience, Debian unstable has been less stable than "pure" rolling release distributions. Basing on unstable also means you have to put up with or work around Debian's freeze periods.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

stable is not the only release that debian offers,

Did you mean to say "branch" rather than "release"? Debian only releases stable. Everything else is part of the process of preparing and supporting stable.

Testing branch may work well or it may not. Its goal is to refine packages for the next stable release so it has an inherent strive towards quality, but it doesn't have a commitment to "quality now" like stable does, just to "quality eventually".

Testing's quality is highest towards the start of each release cycle when it picks up from the previous stable release and towards the end when it's getting ready to become the next stable. But the cycle is 2 years long.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Puts on reading glasses back in my day, we had a saying: “there’s nothing more stable than Debian unstable.”

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

No, I meant release: https://www.debian.org/releases/

Debian always has at least three releases in active maintenance: stable, testing and unstable.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Interesting, I didn't know they consider testing and unstable to be releases too.