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this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2026
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I've been working on Linux since '96. As time goes by I keep drifting more and more towards boring and stable distributions. I just don't want to be bothered with a system that needs me to groom it constantly.
All roads lead to Debian Stable.
I use arch because it is the boring but stable system. Rolling release means you just keep updating it and it works forever rather than having to do big bang upgrades between LTS versions that always break something
Nah. It just means that the breaking updates could surprise you at any time.
With a LTS version upgrade, I can plan for the potentially breaking updates. I can set aside time when my schedule is free to do the big update and work through any potential bullshit. It won't interrupt my work.
But in a rolling release, you're still going to get that same breaking update ... but with no warning this time. It might come at a crucial time when you're trying to get other work done, forcing you to stop your more important work and fix your computer first.
And that's not even counting the number of breaking updates. A relatively 'bleeding edge' rolling release distro like Arch is going to include much newer software versions that haven't gone through as much real-world testing and bug reporting as the stale old packages in a LTS release. The price you pay for more updated software is that it's less thoroughly tested software and more likely to include undiscovered, unfixed bugs.
By the time the same package update finally makes it to some stable LTS distro, more of the bugs have been discovered, reported, and hopefully fixed ... before you ever even see it.
(Not to say that nobody should run cutting-edge rolling release distros. I'm glad you guys are out there. You're the ones reporting those bugs that end up getting fixed before it makes it into the LTS version. If everybody was running LTS stuff, it would lose that advantage because nobody would be testing things before they make it to the LTS.)
Overall, I think cutting-edge rolling release is fine for a computer that doesn't really matter, like a gaming PC. (And you'll probably get a gaming performance boost from having the latest and greatest versions of things.)
But for an essential computer that you need for doing important things, a LTS stable release is the way to go 100%.
You can write a whole essay of theory, but my experience is running several arch devices for years and years with no problems and having ubuntu distro upgrades break so badly I just reinstall completely every single time.
Another hiccup is that LTS are not actually running stable packages. They are running Frankenstein versions of packages with backports that are not supported by the project maintainers, because the software has to be maintained for security if nothing else.
I keep hearing this but in my roughly 20 years of running Arch that's happened no more than a handful of times. And usually because I missed an announcement. I don't know what y'all are doing to your systems but Arch has been incredibly solid for me.
And complete distro version upgrades like with CentOS/Debian have always been such a fucking massive hassle. And CentOS often deprecates hardware shit I need which of course I never find out until after I run the update and the shit won't ever boot again.
this
you can just choose to use software that isn't dev/nightly versions, and you're fine
unless you want to see stuff break... then you install all of the nightly versions and have stuff break sometimes!
100%, I already gave a job and hobbies thanks.
Polishing dotfiles is a valid hobby, and can be fun now and then, but when I need to do actual work I reach for my debian laptop.
that reminds me. i need to commit and push my latest vimrc.
Surely you need to make a cron job to do this on changes? 😅
Yep.
In 2002, I used Gentoo.
In 2026, I use Kubuntu.
(I should probably switch since Canonical's policies are increasingly bothering me, but meh, I can't be bothered to reinstall more than once a decade.)
Just like me, for real!
I've used Debian since 2001 or so. I reinstall whenever I have a new computer, unless I'm decommissioning another computer at the same time.
Same. I settled on Debian around 1999 and stayed there. A brief side trip to the ope source Solaris.
imho that’s kinda why i went ios for my phone. i dev in linux, deal with robotics, hardware, signals, “security” and whatnot to get paid. i just want something that works.
Nowadays you dont even have to use iOS/android to get something that just works, GrapheneOS for example also is fully there already (apart from NFC payment but that's really the only thing)
Eh. You already can't pair it with your Volkswagen (or was it Volvo? one of those car brands), a lot of Banks won't fuck with it and just won't let you use their app or website, and Google is actively trying to kill it off (whether they've said it out loud yet or not, it's happening). I'll be interested to see where it is in the next few years, hope it manages to keep going and all, but I am much more personally invested in a properly working Linux mobile option that works on a modern phone with all of the modern amenities.
Both my banks work (one local, one international) and both my cars work (Volvo and Audi)
There are some caveats to that. You do have to jump through some hoops to for instance get RCS working. I think it is worth it to feel like I'm actually in control of my device, and I would even recommend it to friends and family that I'm willing to play tech support for, but I can't truthfully say I would recommend it to an arbitrary non technical person
You used to have to jump through hoops for RCS, now it's a toggle, they've come a long way with that
That is true. The fact you have to even do that is a lot for some people though. There are other things as well such as wifi calling and visual voicemail not working out of the box for all carriers.