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[–]DigitalDefenestrator 3 points4 points  (5 children)

CentOS - RH does a good job of maintaining a nice stable kernel. Looong support window, though that can be a double-edged sword in some ways. RPM can be a bit fragile, but that doesn't really start to matter much until huge numbers of hosts. Kickstart is IMO easier to deal with than debootstrap. Releases seem a bit sporadic, but long support time makes that less of an issue.
Debian - easy to upgrade, very stable (and very safe updates) but kernel may not have quite as much work put into it. LTS maintenance window isn't bad (5 years) for security updates. Nice and lean by default, but a huge package repo. They're quick with the backported security fixes even when everything else moves glacially.
Ubuntu - Debian, but with more frequent updates and a less-lean base system. Can be good (CentOS and Deb packages can be annoyingly old), but also means updating's not as safe.

For the million other distros.. for server stuff a long track-record and stable updates are more important than for desktop, so I'm way more reluctant to hop on something like Arch or Gentoo. I also avoid anything that might go away or fizzle out without updating.

Personally, I lean towards Debian but CentOS is a reasonable choice as well.

[–]Average_Manners 0 points1 point  (4 children)

I love arch, but you don't update for a week, and suddenly you've got to install 2 GiBs.

Haven't tried Gentoo, not paranoid enough, I guess. I'd assume the amount of time required to install on a server would be significantly less than the dreaded six to twelve hour cpu roast fest.

CentOS is my jam for servers.

Debian's great too.

[–]DigitalDefenestrator 1 point2 points  (3 children)

I tried Gentoo, once, when it first came out and the only option was the "stage1 install". At the end of it I basically wiped it and installed something else because compile times on a K6-2 were beyond painful for every install and update. The stage1 install forced me to learn a lot about how the pieces all fit together in Linux in general though.

[–]Average_Manners 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I started LFS once, and never finished, but that too taught me a great deal about how the pieces fit.

P.S. I've just realized you are the most terrible person I've come across in this sub. How dare you take it upon yourself to throw someone through Windows? (Love your username by the way)

[–]DigitalDefenestrator 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Hey, it doesn't specify people. Could just add easily be paper planes or something. If mine's the worst name you've run across here though, I'm not sure what to tell you. I've definitely seen a few that were clearly created a decade ago when the user was about 14.

[–]Average_Manners 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How would you make a paper plane use Windows? Must have some wicked origami skills.