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I’m in the process of moving to exactly this approach. I’ve been trying to pick the right Linux distro to base my images on. Ubuntu Server is the low effort ro

by tailspin2019 5y ago

I’m in the process of moving to exactly this approach. I’ve been trying to pick the right Linux distro to base my images on. Ubuntu Server is the low effort route but a bit big to redeploy constantly. I’ve also been looking at the possibility of using Alpine Linux which feels like a better fit but a bit more tweaking needed for compatibility across cloud providers. Unikernels are also interesting but I think that might be going too far in the other direction for my use case. For others doing this, I’d be interested in what distros you’re using?

maxk42 5y ago
Ubuntu is too heavy. Try CentOS.
- tailspin2019 5y ago
  Thanks, CentOS was on my radar too. I’ll take a closer look!
  - Melatonic 5y ago
    Isnt CentOS basically discontinued at this point?
    - paulryanrogers 5y ago
      It's changed from a downstream distro to upstream. Rocky Linux has since appeared to take its place in the community, by one of the original CentOS founders.
- twistedcheeslet 5y ago
  How so? Doesn't CentOS share a lot of the same issues as Ubuntu? Legitimate question.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  Urgh. If anything, use Debian.
gen220 5y ago
Google has used debian as their base. Netflix uses a BSD flavor (I forget which) as their CDN cache. FB used CentOS, not sure what they use today since CentOS is EOL'd. Debian (and, formerly, CentOS) is a good standard: it occupies a sweet spot between ubuntu server and alpine, in the sense that it's batteries-included and very well-supported (apt/yum), but not particularly bloated. I use debian for all my personal stuff. The BSD flavors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BSD_operating_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BSD_operating_sy...) are tempting, though. Perhaps one weekend! For other distros, if you're working on non-x86, or have uncommon dependencies, you should be prepared to pull in and build your dependencies from scratch, which is not much fun to maintain.
- _-david-_ 5y ago
  >FB used CentOS, not sure what they use today since CentOS is EOL'd. They are using CentOS Stream now.
- tailspin2019 5y ago
  Useful insight, thanks. What attracts you to BSD over Debian if you were to go that route at some point?
  - gen220 5y ago
    No problem! If you search around for "Debian vs BSD", you'll find more exhaustive explanations [1], but it mostly reduces to the fact that BSD is more coherent & organized than GNU/Linux; it's more feature-rich in the domains that sysadmins and hackers appreciate, but feature-sparse in the domains "normal users" appreciate. Depending on your needs these facts can be advantages or disadvantages. I tend to gravitate towards projects like BSD, since they align with my principles, but you do pay a cost in terms of compatibility with common software. For example, Firefox does not treat BSD as a first class build target, so it's up to community members to build and deploy Firefox binaries, and report feedback on bugs that break BSD installations. If access to the most up-to-date compiled versions of popular software packages is a big sticking point, BSD-land may not be the right choice. But if you're living mostly in `vim`, `bash` and `man`, and are willing to roll up the sleeves, BSD feels cozy. It's maybe a 20% correct analogy (don't read too deeply into it, or you'll draw incorrect conclusions), but C++ is to GNU/Linux, as D/Rust/Zig is to BSD. [1]: https://unixsheikh.com/articles/technical-reasons-to-choose-freebsd-over-linux.html https://unixsheikh.com/articles/technical-reasons-to-choose-...

maxk42 5y ago

Ubuntu is too heavy. Try CentOS.

tailspin2019 5y ago
Thanks, CentOS was on my radar too. I’ll take a closer look!
- Melatonic 5y ago
  Isnt CentOS basically discontinued at this point?
  - paulryanrogers 5y ago
    It's changed from a downstream distro to upstream. Rocky Linux has since appeared to take its place in the community, by one of the original CentOS founders.
twistedcheeslet 5y ago
How so? Doesn't CentOS share a lot of the same issues as Ubuntu? Legitimate question.
goodpoint 5y ago
Urgh. If anything, use Debian.

gen220 5y ago

Google has used debian as their base. Netflix uses a BSD flavor (I forget which) as their CDN cache. FB used CentOS, not sure what they use today since CentOS is EOL'd. Debian (and, formerly, CentOS) is a good standard: it occupies a sweet spot between ubuntu server and alpine, in the sense that it's batteries-included and very well-supported (apt/yum), but not particularly bloated. I use debian for all my personal stuff. The BSD flavors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BSD_operating_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BSD_operating_sy...) are tempting, though. Perhaps one weekend! For other distros, if you're working on non-x86, or have uncommon dependencies, you should be prepared to pull in and build your dependencies from scratch, which is not much fun to maintain.

_-david-_ 5y ago
>FB used CentOS, not sure what they use today since CentOS is EOL'd. They are using CentOS Stream now.
tailspin2019 5y ago
Useful insight, thanks. What attracts you to BSD over Debian if you were to go that route at some point?
- gen220 5y ago
  No problem! If you search around for "Debian vs BSD", you'll find more exhaustive explanations [1], but it mostly reduces to the fact that BSD is more coherent & organized than GNU/Linux; it's more feature-rich in the domains that sysadmins and hackers appreciate, but feature-sparse in the domains "normal users" appreciate. Depending on your needs these facts can be advantages or disadvantages. I tend to gravitate towards projects like BSD, since they align with my principles, but you do pay a cost in terms of compatibility with common software. For example, Firefox does not treat BSD as a first class build target, so it's up to community members to build and deploy Firefox binaries, and report feedback on bugs that break BSD installations. If access to the most up-to-date compiled versions of popular software packages is a big sticking point, BSD-land may not be the right choice. But if you're living mostly in `vim`, `bash` and `man`, and are willing to roll up the sleeves, BSD feels cozy. It's maybe a 20% correct analogy (don't read too deeply into it, or you'll draw incorrect conclusions), but C++ is to GNU/Linux, as D/Rust/Zig is to BSD. [1]: https://unixsheikh.com/articles/technical-reasons-to-choose-freebsd-over-linux.html https://unixsheikh.com/articles/technical-reasons-to-choose-...