Re: [tlug] Upgrading Sucks (was: FC5 Sucks: firewire drive/videos)

[stephen@example.com]

Shawn writes:

 > Would like to avoid frequent upgrades on my next box.

Debian sid ... it can't be upgraded because sid will always be, well,
sid.

 > > Gentoo may be a little work to set up, but it is very nice for people
 > > who want new bits of software without upgrading world.

 > So it seems to me like Gentoo is a little more cutting edge that what
 > say CentOS offers.

It can be, but it doesn't have to be.  Compiling well-written stuff
from scratch means that it will normally only depend on what you have
installed.  So you really don't have to upgrade unless you really want
a feature.

In practice, that caveat translates to "unless you use GNOME-infested
software."  Then you're screwed no matter what distro you use.  See
http://www.jwz.org/doc/cadt.html for a detailed analysis, which uses
GNOME as a leading example (and in my experience, not by accident).