I recently moved my work machine from Windows to Linux and chose Debian Trixie + KDE Plasma for the stability. The advice is that if stability is your priority, you should try to avoid breaking Debian. I understand that adding third-party sources can cause dependencies conflicts, and must be avoided at all costs. I also understand that Flatpaks, AppImages, Snaps, and Docker/Podman images are safe because they don’t interfere with the system dependencies. So far, so good. What I don’t understand is what happens with other ways of installing software (eg .deb, tarballs).
I know it’s a contentious subject but if stability is the priority, how would you rank different methods? I may be wrong but my take is:
Debian repository > Flatpak > Appimage > Docker/Podman > Snap > tarball
To be avoided: .deb for Debian > .deb for Ubuntu > PPAs
Eg Viber is available as an official AppImage (with certain bugs), unofficial flatpak (with other bugs), and an official .deb for Ubuntu (which is probably a bad idea for Debian anyway). Viber support told me they don’t support my OS.
Yeah, I only use Debian to host Docker images. My main desktop is Pop OS, but I’ve been pondering switching to Fedora or something similar.
Fedora KDE is my main workstation distro and it’s been treating me fine.
I chose between that and opensuse Tumbleweed and ended up trying Fedora for the simple reason of having a larger user base than opensuse.
I’m still curious to try out opensuse tumbleweed but fedora has just kept going and I’ve felt no need to fix or switch.