Why do you use debian?

[Lysander]

My reasons have changed over time. A few years ago I was a new Linux user and was excited to learn an OS which was more challenging than Ubuntu. I then left Debian for Slackware on my main box.

As much as I adore Slackware, I ran into issues when adding a fourth internal hard drive, which meant the system wouldn't boot. We hit a wall on the Slackware forum trying to diagnose the problem, the normal processes for persistent naming wouldn't work. I went back to Debian because it makes configuring and maintaining a system with multiple hard drives a lot easier.

[neuraleskimo]

Like a lot of other people, I like Debian's position on free software (but easy access to non-free drivers, etc.), its inclusiveness, and community. I also like that Debian is community-driven and free of corporate attachments. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Red Hat and their contributions to Linux and other free software, but the jury is still out on IBM owning Red Hat and I don't know that I like the Red Hat business model. Also, I have this fear that Microsoft will purchase Canonical someday.

Anyway, back on topic... I also like the stability and reliability of Debian. I have toyed with other more cutting-edge or rolling releases and usually end-up hating the daily churn of updates.

[Wheelerof4te]

My main reasons:

1. Actual ABI stability and promise of an unchanging environment. In the real world, this is very important.
2. A lot of packages to choose from, and an easy way to install them. No repo hunting, like in Fedora, for example.
3. Premium security support. For some desktop software (like Chromium), it could use some improvements, but this is not a big deal.
4. You get the choice of either fully-free software, or mixed. I'm pragmatic, so I care about non-free stuff's availability.
5. Long and rich history of development. It ensures survivability of the distribution. I don't have to worry that next year it could suddenly vanish.

Of course, I talk about the only official Debian release, Debian Stable.

[NFT5]

Why do you choose or use Debian...

I use Debian because that is what I chose.

About 7 years ago I faced what many others faced at that time - the upcoming end of support for Windows XP. Between my business and home I had around 15 machines that would have to be upgraded to a new operating system. At the time MS saw the end of life for XP as a massive opportunity to boost their profits and Win7 licences were not being discounted at all. So, I faced a capital cost of about $4500 to upgrade the OS, double that with upgrades to software, and then the prospect that it would all happen again with an OS that was full of holes, both in the practical and security senses.

I'd played around with Ubuntu on a PC at home and saw that Linux had potential to do what we needed, but the need to upgrade every 9 months had no appeal at all. I did look at LTS versions but started a search for a system that was stable in operation and had much longer periods between major upgrades. Red Hat made the list until I realised we just weren't big enough to fit into their customer mould. PCLOS actually had some appeal until it became apparent that it simply wouldn't install on some machines and then there was ............Robolinux. I laugh now but they were very active in targetting people like me and the system, which came with Virtualbox to run those programs that couldn't be substituted with a Linux equivalent was very attractive. I was halfway to making a decision when a small problem required that I actually contact the guy that runs the project. Without going in to that further, let me say that I came away looking for another alternative and then realised that Debian could, with not that much work, do everything that Robolinux had promised and also had a level of support that was non-existent with the alternative.

Six months of testing Wheezy ensued with very few problems, none of which that couldn't be overcome with a little research and work, plus some application to a giant learning curve. Needless to say we're still running Debian exclusively and in the process of upgrading to Buster, one machine at a time. Along the way I tried various other distros, just to confirm that I'd made the right decision. MX came close but missed out on their excessively tight permissions policy while Ubuntu MATE lived alongside Debian on my notebook for some time, as well as on my wife's desktop, but the noticeable difference in performance, and implementation of features in Debian, eventually knocked that distro out as well.

Is Debian the perfect distribution? Not at all. Some of the problems along the way have shown, to me at least, that there are issues with the sharp division between devs and users. MXLinux could really teach Debian a thing or two about the benefits that come from devs and users being part of a single community. More recognition of the ever increasing use of Debian as a desktop system would overcome many of the problems that newer users experience. Again MX and Ubuntu really show what can be done in this area. The stable/testing/unstable model has proven advantages in delivering software that works, but more could be done to discourage the inexperienced from jumping into a release that they're incapable of dealing with and taking up resources that could be better utilised elsewhere, while not actually contributing much to the actual development of the Debian distribution.

The following goes very close to summarising my thoughts on Debian:

1. Actual ABI stability and promise of an unchanging environment. In the real world, this is very important.
2. A lot of packages to choose from, and an easy way to install them. No repo hunting, like in Fedora, for example.
3. Premium security support. For some desktop software (like Chromium), it could use some improvements, but this is not a big deal.
4. You get the choice of either fully-free software, or mixed. I'm pragmatic, so I care about non-free stuff's availability.
5. Long and rich history of development. It ensures survivability of the distribution. I don't have to worry that next year it could suddenly vanish.

[Mr. Lumbergh]

Why do you use debian and not another distrobution?

Ahh, but I do use another distro. I have PCLOS installed on here too. Simple to use and I know it inside and out. When I first got into Linux back in 2005, I had that on the laptop and Ubuntu on the desktop. It eventually won as Ubuntu got more and more Microsoftish in their approach to things. It's only ever given me real grief twice in 15 years. I can get in there and do maintenance on everything else installed on this multiboot box (4, soon to be 5 OS's) because I'm so familiar with it at this point.
Debian appealed to me because of the huge range of available packages and pretty much infinite customization options. You can always find installation destructions for Debian for just about any package; a lot of other distros don't have this compatibility. I liked the concept behind Ubuntu Studio with its tweaks for audio and video production, but I still don't like Ubuntu. Debian lets me run the same tweaks such as the realtime kernel and JACK audio, which makes it a perfect alternative if you hate Windows and your Mac is too old to run a modern DAW. I can even set up JACK for my audio interface while still using Pulse for the HDMI out and built-in audio. It doesn't come pre-loaded with a bunch of crap; everything on here is there because I installed it, even the GUI. It can be a great general-purpose distro or one built for a specific task. And of course apt; it's far and away my favorite PM.

[dvk]

I am using debian buster. because it is more stable than other distros