Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.setup

>I'm still in the phase of choosing a "right" linux for me. I've read a
>lot about strength for different linux, which suits who... but now I
>realize that what they emphasied is not important to me, i.e, the kernel
>verion, the power of window manager...
>
>I'm a programmer, the first reason I use linux is as a development
>platform. All I need is a not too difficult to install version and not
>too fancy window manager. What's most important is that I should be able
>to get the most up-to-date tools that i need, so that I don't need to
>reinstall every tools that I need.

If you need to keep up-to-date, use Debian woody, the "unstable" Debian distribution (the "unstable" indicates "rapidly changing" rather than "crashes lots", in my experience). Assuming you have decent net connectivity, you can connect to a Debian mirror and do something not too far away from 'apt-get update; apt-get upgrade' and have it update all your packages to the current versions for you. If you don't have connectivity, then you could go for the soon-to-be-released-as-stable Debian potato distribution, and perhaps burn the odd current CD of woody to keep vaguely current.

>So, if your think your favorite linux qulified as a development platform
>not a toy box, could you tell me which version of the following tools
>comes with the package? thanks

Fine; the -number after each version indicates a Debian revision. Both potato and woody listed where they diverge. Anybody with a low boredom threshold look away now. :)

 >bash
2.03-6 (potato), 2.04-4 (woody)
 >gcc
2.95.2-10
 >g++
2.95.2-10
 >perl
5.005.03-7.1 [package perl-5.005]
 >perl-libwww
5.47-1 (potato), 5.48-1 (woody) [package libwww-perl]
 >expect
5.31.2-3 (potato), 5.31.5-2 (woody) [package expect5.31]

 >emacs
20.6-0.1 [package emacs20]
 >ispell
3.1.20-12
 >ncurses
5.0.6 [package libncurses5]
 >lynx
2.8.3-1
 >tkdiff
 3.05-1 (potato), 3.05-2 (woody)

>ssh
1.2.3-3 [note that this is OpenSSH rather than old non-free ssh, which
is still available at 1.2.27-6, package ssh-nonfree]
>wget
1.5.3-3

>java
1.1.8v1-2 [package jdk1.1; I believe jdk1.2 is being looked at, but
it'll probably have to wait until after potato's released]

Alternatively, I could switch my brain on :)

Apparently the licence of version 1.2 of the JDK doesn't allow redistribution by third parties. An installer package has been suggested, and *may* be possible. See:

http://bugs.debian.org/62687

>netscape
4.72-16 [various packages]
Also mozilla M14-2 (potato), M15-2 (woody).

Errors and omissions excepted, but you can check for yourself at http://packages.debian.org/.

Colin Watson

XFree86-4.3.0-2.90.43
aspell-0.33.7.1-21
bash-2.05b-20.1
efax-0.9-18
emacs-21.2-33.1
fluxbox-0.1.14-1.1
gcc-3.2.2-5
gtk2-2.2.1-4
lynx-2.8.5-11
mozilla-1.2.1-26
ncurses-5.3-4
openssh-3.5p1-11
pan-0.14.2-1.9
perl-5.8.0-88.3
perl-libwww-perl-5.65-6
python-2.2.2-26
vcdimager-0.7.17-0.pm.2
wget-1.8.2-9
xchm-0.8.11-1mdk
xmms-1.2.7-21.p

xfree86-common (4.3.0.dfsg.1-1)
aspell (0.50.5-2)
bash (2.05b-15)
efax (1:0.9a-14)
emacs21 (21.3+1-5)
fluxbox (0.1.14-4)
gcc-3.2 (1:3.2.3-9)
libwww-perl (5.76-2)
lynx (2.8.5-1)
mozilla (2:1.6-5)
ncurses-base (5.4-4)
pan (0.14.2.91-1)
perl (5.8.3-3)
python (2.3.3-7)
ssh (1:3.8p1-3)
vcdimager (0.7.20-1)
wget (1.9.1-4)
xchm (0.9.1-1)
xmms (1.2.10-1)