[nycbug-talk] OT: Favorite Linux Distro (based on FreeBSD experience?)

[Matt Juszczak]

Hi folks,

I need to choose a standard Linux distribution for a project I'm working 
on.  Most of my experience is FreeBSD, but Linux is required here.

The available options are:

     * Debian
     * Ubuntu
     * Centos
     * Arch
     * Gentoo
     * Fedora

While I like CentOS, I don't like the lack of packages native to the OS. 
For instance, MongoDB and PHP and other packages are super old versions 
(if they exist at all).

Ubuntu is good, because it has all the latest software packages, but I 
don't like how much automation it tries to do.  For instance - install a 
package, and shockingly, the package will start automatically at the end 
of the install!  Too much automation, and too heavy.  Perhaps I'm letting 
this bother me too much?

Last I heard, Debian was a good choice, and had a "testing" version with a 
lot of good packages.  I used it once about 6 years ago, not sure where it 
is now.

No experience with Gentoo or Arch, though I hear Gentoo has a good ports 
system implementation.  Arch seems to be good too, with lots of up to date 
packages.

Fedora... I know nothing about, other than it's EOL pretty quickly.

Any suggestions?  Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks!

-Matt