Debian has an explicit stability guarantee: > This is what Debian's Stable name means: that, once released, the operating system remains relatively unchanging

Debian has an explicit stability guarantee: > This is what Debian's Stable name means: that, once released, the operating system remains relatively unchanging over time. [1] If you just want to compile programs, perhaps a distro + release channel geared towards production server deployments isn't the best choice. They even call out that fact in the "Why Debian" page: > You can fine-tune the degree of risk you want to take, since Debian has three separate releases: Stable, Testing, and Unstable. On some of our machines (the server, the kiosk machines) we run 'stable'. Some of the other systems (individual work-stations) run various combinations of testing/unstable. (Note that there are no security updates for testing). I run some stuff from experimental on my own work-station. What's great is the ability to make finely graded decisions for different machines serving different functions. But even the more adventurous choices are solid enough that they virtually never break. And `stable' just never breaks ;-). [2] [1] https://wiki.debian.org/DebianStability https://wiki.debian.org/DebianStability [2] https://wiki.debian.org/WhyDebian#Why_Linux.3F_Why_Debian.3F https://wiki.debian.org/WhyDebian#Why_Linux.3F_Why_Debian.3F