feddit.org

2 points

1 month ago

none of the “main” distros default to BTRFS, just “derivatives” default to BTRFS

So you don’t regard Fedora (or openSUSE) as “main” distro?

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Ketata Mohamed@mastodon.tn

[ - ]

-1 points

1 month ago

@lancalot OpenSUSE is based on SUSE (created in 1994)
Fedora was developed as a continuation of RHEL
Maybe “main” is not well appropriate, I wanted to say “distros that have no precedence & not based on anything”, for example, 0.12 was a “main” distro, MCC Interim Linux was a “derivative” distro

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[ - ]

3 points

1 month ago

I suppose we differ in our definitions. Which is absolutely fine, to be honest*.

For completeness’ sake, IMO it’s basically the intersection of Major Distributions and Independent Distributions. Which happens to consist of Arch, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, openSUSE and Slackware.

Out of these, Arch and Gentoo don’t have defaults, but their documentation uses ext4 most frequently for examples. For the remaining four, Fedora and openSUSE default to Btrfs. While Debian and Slackware default to ext4.

In all fairness, one might argue that Distrowatch’s list of major distros is arbitrary. Therefore, we could refine what’s found above by including actually data. For this, I’ll use Boiling Steam’s usage chart based on ProtonDB’s data. This ain’t perfect either, but it’s the best I can do. Here, we notice how both Gentoo and Slackware are not represented. Furthermore, NixOS poses as a candidate instead. For which, we find that (if anything) ext4 is the default. Regardless, it doesn’t actually impact the earlier outcome:

Arch (and Gentoo) don’t have defaults
Debian(, Slackware and NixOS) default to ext4
Fedora and openSUSE default to Btrfs

Anyhow, what are the main distros according to you? Please offer an exhaustive list, please. Thanks in advance!

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Ketata Mohamed@mastodon.tn

[ - ]

0 points

1 month ago

@lancalot the “main” that are alive today are (like on this graph) https://rreinold.github.io/explore-linux/ :Debian, Slackware, RHEL, Gentoo, Arch & android
These are only the alive ones, however, I couldn’t find any info about Nix OS so it remains on the maybe category cause I tried it and could not find any hint to the past

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[ - ]

1 point

1 month ago

I suppose that’s a fair assessment. Thanks for the clarification!

However, I do give precedence over their current situations.

So, if e.g. Arch would continue to exist, but ultimately became the downstream/derivative of another distro, then I would stop regarding it as ‘main’. Which one may argue happened between RHEL and Fedora.
Similarly, if a derivative starts building their own repos and becomes entirely independent from the distro they were originally derived from, then I’d stop regarding them as a derivative. Instead I’d acknowledge them as an independent distro. Like how openSUSE ultimately is derived from Slackware, but they’re hardly comparable today.

Regarding NixOS, it and other independent distros are absent in the link you provided. NixOS is literally its own thing and also old; older than Ubuntu and Android for example. So, if anything, it did deserve a mention. Though, I suppose the maker of that website didn’t think it was relevant enough to be included over three years ago. NixOS’ popularity has thankfully exploded in the mean time, though.

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Ketata Mohamed@mastodon.tn

[ - ]

1 point

1 month ago

@lancalot I understand the list I provided is not necessarily complete, because Void & Solus are also independent, however, for them to be “main”, they should have “derivatives”, I don’t claim that I have a big Linux experience, but I tried & documented myself about the distros on the list, & can confirm that they are “main”, I also tried Nix OS, the use of 1 config file is refreshing, however that ease comes at the cost of some flexibility, installing Steam there is too complicated for me

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[ - ]

1 point

1 month ago

however, for them to be “main”, they should have “derivatives”,

Got you. Aight. I suppose that does disqualify NixOS. Though, to be fair, Guix System is heavily inspired from NixOS.

I also tried Nix OS, the use of 1 config file is refreshing, however that ease comes at the cost of some flexibility, installing Steam there is too complicated for me

Hehe 😜. Yeah, the paradigm shift associated with NixOS isn’t one that’s overcome in one sitting. But it’s cool to hear that you’ve tested it for yourself.

Anyhow, this was a cool interaction. Thank you for offering your insights! Wish you, my akhi in (at least) humanity, a lovely day!

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