Is there any reason to use Debian Sid over a rolling release distribution?
Posted by absolutecinemalol@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 10 comments
I have seen a surprising amount of people using Debian Sid but I have no idea why. Isn't Debian known for it's stability and having less changes less often that other distributions? If that's the case, doesn't using Sid kind of defy any reasons for using a distro like Debian? And even if you have a reason for using Sid, like wanting shiny new stuff, wouldn't it just be better to use a rolling release?
nicolasdanelon@reddit
Yes, the are a lot
abotelho-cbn@reddit
It's not a release. It's not designed to be used as a daily driver. These people recommending it to everyone as some substitute for Arch are jerks.
Just_Maintenance@reddit
Debian also does recommend Sid if “If you are a desktop user with a lot of experience in the operating system and do not mind facing the odd bug now and then”
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/choosing.en.html#s3.1
abotelho-cbn@reddit
Do you think OP, asking this question, is such a user?
Proud_Confusion2047@reddit
b-but it works on my machine. the devs must be liars /s
BinkReddit@reddit
Debian Sid is not a rolling release; it's less stable than their Testing release and some rolling distributions. Unless you want to help with the development of Sid, I wouldn't recommend running it. That's said, while Sid does get frequent updates for many packages, many packages also languish until just before the next stable Debian release.
Just_Maintenance@reddit
In my experience it’s basically a rolling distro.
The main benefit it’s that it’s Debian which is awesome.
sidusnare@reddit
Might be the first rolling release.
ZVyhVrtsfgzfs@reddit
If your using Debian in your servers (common use case) but want newer software for your desktop Sid, Siduction or Testing can make sense for the right user.
Flip the question, If you are already familiar with Debian, what to other distributions have to offer you? There can be edge cases where another distribution has something useful for some people, but many experienced users are well served just remaining in the Debian space.
I daily drive LMDE, Its Debian stable with a comfortable Mint desktop, my servers run a mix of Debian and some Alpine VMs.
I do tinker in many other distributions and enjoy them but Debian is the workhorse core of my Linux use.
myownalias@reddit
Sid/unstable basically rolling Debian for developers. Everything that builds gets included, but it may have bugs. It doesn't get security updates from the security team. It doesn't necessarily have the latest and greatest either as it's up to package maintainers to update the software in the package. Some people like Debian's taste on how to build a distribution and will choose to run Sid, but that should really only be done by people who can tolerate a bit of breakage now and then.
Testing is more likely to be broken because sometimes one package will be promoted into testing from sid/unstable while a change it depends on in another package doesn't get promoted at the same time.
End users should probably stick to stable.