OT: Linux Distrobutions?

[Paul]

I see from the downloads page that there are specific downloads for SuSE
and Debian (as well as RH obviously).

I see SpamAssassin has a Debian version (and a Gentoo one).

I'm not after the latest versions of software.  What I really liked
about RH 8 was the Up2Date utility that I ran via a weekly cron job to
automatically applied security patches for me (I didn't pay for the full
maintenance but was considering it seriously).  The Fedora project ain't
gonna give me this, it seems certain.

I have 2 servers, one of which I was planning to migrate my customers to
very shortly (have spent hours configuring the darned thing; it's
running RH 8) so I have the opportunity before it goes live to bite the
bullet and change distros.

I'm running a web management front end called 42go that supports SuSE,
Debian and Mandrake as well as RH, so this seems to be the choice.

Julian's recommendation of SuSE obviously cuts a lot of ice.  However, I
have had Debian recommended for its ease of updating and Bob Jones's
comments on this list reinforce this.

So, which distro offers automatic updating, a la Up2Date?  I don't mind
paying for it, but I'd prefer it to be a one-off charge, unlike RH, who
are offering me this:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES Basic Edition*   $174.50/year for 1 system

----- Original Message -----
Date:         Mon, 3 Nov 2003 19:15:57 +0000
From:         Julian Field <mailscanner at ECS.SOTON.AC.UK>
Subject:      Re: OT:  Linux Distrobutions?

The free version of RedHat will continue, but will be now known as
"Fedora"
(the type of hat) and will be updated a few times each year. They don't
guarantee how long support will be provided for any given Fedora
release,
but I think it's what most people will migrate their boxes to.

Lots of people on this list are bound to vote for Debian, but personally
I
have always found it to be the "enthusiast's" distro. Usual rules on
flame
wars and religious debates apply :)
SuSE is a good alternative to RedHat.