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Debian can be configured to be quite tidy, and apt less suicidal, but it requires far more effort than on Arch. However, once set up, you can slap unattended-u

by creshal 11y ago

Debian can be configured to be quite tidy, and apt less suicidal, but it requires far more effort than on Arch. However, once set up, you can slap unattended-upgrades on top and have a (usually…) self-updating and self-maintaining system, which is quite neat.

nextos 11y ago
Oh yes. Well, Debian is very nice too, but they have completely antagonic philosophies. Probably the way to go is Nix/Guix. Transactional upgrades and declarative configuration.
skrause 11y ago
On Debian-based systems you can simply use debfoster (https://packages.debian.org/debfoster https://packages.debian.org/debfoster) to remove unwanted packages.
- shared4you 11y ago
  What does this do that `apt-get autoremove` doesn't?
  - onli 11y ago
    I remember this having existed before autoremove. It shouldn't help much now.
  - skrause 11y ago
    apt-get autoremove only removes now unused packages that were previously installed automatically as a dependency. debfoster explicitly asks you which packages you want to keep and removes everything else. You can use it to strip down an existing Debian installation to just the base packages.
fit2rule 11y ago
In my opinion, the only real effort that is required to keep Debian clean is to remember to do the updates regularly, and dist-upgrade semi-regularly. If you get far behind, then there are going to be headaches, but if you stay relatively current as you move along with new updates, and upgrades to packages, Debian is very smooth sailing. So smooth that I instantly thought to myself "huh, who needs spring-cleaning? My debian-systems pretty much keep themselves clean all along.." and was subsequently surprised about how Arch Linux seems to do things .. (Nevertheless, its also prompted me to put "try Arch out" on the TODO list for the next down-time period..)
- creshal 11y ago
  > In my opinion, the only real effort that is required to keep Debian clean is to remember to do the updates regularly, and dist-upgrade semi-regularly. The beauty of Debian is that unattended-upgrades works well enough that most of the time you can defer updates (within one release) to it and don't have to bother at all. My only gripe is that if it breaks, it breaks hard. Botched Arch installations are much easier to fix.

by creshal 11y ago

nextos 11y ago

Oh yes. Well, Debian is very nice too, but they have completely antagonic philosophies. Probably the way to go is Nix/Guix. Transactional upgrades and declarative configuration.

skrause 11y ago

On Debian-based systems you can simply use debfoster (https://packages.debian.org/debfoster https://packages.debian.org/debfoster) to remove unwanted packages.

shared4you 11y ago
What does this do that `apt-get autoremove` doesn't?
- onli 11y ago
  I remember this having existed before autoremove. It shouldn't help much now.
- skrause 11y ago
  apt-get autoremove only removes now unused packages that were previously installed automatically as a dependency. debfoster explicitly asks you which packages you want to keep and removes everything else. You can use it to strip down an existing Debian installation to just the base packages.

fit2rule 11y ago

In my opinion, the only real effort that is required to keep Debian clean is to remember to do the updates regularly, and dist-upgrade semi-regularly. If you get far behind, then there are going to be headaches, but if you stay relatively current as you move along with new updates, and upgrades to packages, Debian is very smooth sailing. So smooth that I instantly thought to myself "huh, who needs spring-cleaning? My debian-systems pretty much keep themselves clean all along.." and was subsequently surprised about how Arch Linux seems to do things .. (Nevertheless, its also prompted me to put "try Arch out" on the TODO list for the next down-time period..)

creshal 11y ago
> In my opinion, the only real effort that is required to keep Debian clean is to remember to do the updates regularly, and dist-upgrade semi-regularly. The beauty of Debian is that unattended-upgrades works well enough that most of the time you can defer updates (within one release) to it and don't have to bother at all. My only gripe is that if it breaks, it breaks hard. Botched Arch installations are much easier to fix.