Jon Harrop wrote:

> jhc0033@gmail.com wrote:
>> I need a stable Linux distribution that won't take too much of my
>> time to maintain and keep secure, but I also tend to want the latest
>> development tools and libraries, like GCC, Python, Boost, Java,
>> Eclipse, etc.
>>
>> In the past, my approach was to use Debian stable, and compile
>> everything I need to be of the latest version from the non-Debian
>> sources and install in /usr/local. This seems simpler and less likely
>> to screw up my system than trying to work with Debian sources from a
>> different version. Compiling too much stuff from sources is a bit of
>> a drag though.
>>
>> Is Ubuntu a better alternative for me? I haven't used it much, and I
>> don't like their choice of Desktop or colors, but I can relate to
>> their goal of making things simpler.
>
> We develop Linux software in Debian, primarily in OCaml, and tried
> Ubuntu last year. We didn't like it. Ubuntu broke the nVidia drivers
> whereas Debian automated everything. Ubuntu failed to recognise our
> NICs. Finally, the Ubuntu packages for everything OCaml related are
> just old snapshots from Debian that rarely work.
>
> So I cannot recommend Ubuntu as a developer. Debian is by far the best
> Linux distro we've found.
>
> I can't comment on support for esoteric languages like Java. ;-)

Don't you mean outdated? ;-)