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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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Linux middle ground? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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so a common claim I see made is that arch is up to date than Debian but harder to maintain and easier to break. Is there a good sort of middle ground distro between the reliability of Debian and the up-to-date packages of arch?

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[–] Darohan 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

This may be an unpopular opinion, but NixOS. It has package up-to-dateness comparable to (and sometimes better than) Arch, but between being declarative (and reproducible) and allowing rollbacks, it's much harder to break. The cost is, of course, having to learn how to use NixOS, as it's a fair bit different to using a "normal" Linux distro.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Double this, nix has entirely changed my perspective on what I should expect from software and my operating system. It’s so rock solid and roll backs are easy. Reproduction with all the customization you could ever want with incredible transparency.

[–] possiblylinux127 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

While I never saw the benefit (it is to complex) I do think it isn't a bad choice

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

to be honest it's actually not that hard depending on what you do with your PC. If you want something you can set up once and forget about NixOS is perfect, put auto-updates and the stable channel and you will be able to forget about it for months, only having to occasionally edit your config file to switch to a new release. In fact I'd argue that if they manage to get a GUI package manager, and auto-update + auto-clean setup on installation, they'd probably be one of the best noob-friendly distros out there even.

The issue is that they sometimes tend to do big changes to how things are handled, documentation is sorely lacking and if you're a tinkerer (especially if you like ricing) you may have a harder time than regular distros. That said the convenience of having a list of all the programs you use in a single file is amazing and I hope every package manager adopts a similar declarative way of installing software.

[–] possiblylinux127 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I find it much easier to just use something more "normal"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

fair enough it's one of the reasons I switched out of NixOS but it's not too much harder if your usecase doesn't involve programs not in the repo or building from source tbf