> 1) Distribution of Linux to have the largest number of "out of the
box"
> security holes. Check back and look at the security reports. Count
them if
> you insist.
That proves absolutely nothing. Any sysop that installs a standard
installation and hopes for the best is a fool. If you are running a
production server, you will first apply all the latest patches, and
switch off all the services that are not used. That will usually be a
good starting point, and it only takes minutes to do. It's damn easy
to say that an OS like OpenBSD is "most secure" if no services are
running by default. It's almost like taking a server, switching it
off, unplugging it from everything, putting it in a steel barrel,
pouring concrete over it, and chucking it overboard over Mindanao
Deep. I'd agree that that is pretty damn secure. But also pretty damn
useless...
> 2) Most commercial software made _for_ RedHat (some companies only
> "support" RedHat) insist that you use RPM to install their software,
> otherwise you are SOL. Most commercial software made _for_ _Linux_
> supports all distributions.
What's wrong with RPM? Most software nowdays comes optionally
pre-packaged using RPM. And if your distribution doesn't support RPM,
then it isn't all that hard to install RPM and use that. For crying
out loud, I've installed RPM on a Sun3 server that was running SunOS
4.1.1! Why? Because it made package management, installation and
removal so much easier!
What is the problem with RPM? Don't you know how to install it from
source on a distribution that doesn't come with it?
> 3) So much extra crap running to begin with, eating up extra memory,
cpu,
> etc. (Yeah, sure you can spend time securing and setting up the box
to not
> run what it shouldn't be... _OR_ you can save that wasted time (it
adds up
> when you are setting up 30 production machines) and run a quality
> distribution like Debian or even Slackware)
I am dissapointed to hear that. Surely, you STILL have to go through
the startup scripts and determine what you are running, on any
distribution. On RH, I use "setup", and I can have the services
switched off or on as required in about 6 seconds. 30 systems x 6
seconds = 3 minutes. I think I can live with that.
> I'm sure we could go on, but this isn't a Linux list :)
You're right. We should stop, or at least take this off the list.
Regards.
Gordan