debian vs ubuntu

[Matthew Gillen]

Scott R. Ehrlich wrote:
> I'd like to find out from Debian and Ubuntu users if Debian offers the 
> same upgrade options as Ubuntu? 

Since Debian never has new releases, I don't understand why this is an 
issue. :-P Just kidding, they are averaging a release every couple years 
lately.

> Also, which distro seems to offer more 
> current versions of applications (Firefox, etc)?   Ubuntu seems to prefer 
> their hacked helper (ubufox) to make Firefox really happy.  Does Debian 
> keep that kind of control over their distro?
> ...
> So how does Debian stack up vs Ubuntu for 32-bit desktop use these days?
> Keeping up on applications (latest and security patched, unbreaking of 
> updates, etc)?

Short answer: you should be able to trust any respectable distro to keep 
on top of security updates.  'New Feature' versions typically aren't 
updated within a distro-release, although the 'fast release cycle' 
distros like Ubuntu and Fedora are much more likely bend that rule 
(witness the out-of-cycle adoption of Firefox 3.0 in both, IIRC).

Long answer:
Ubuntu will always have a more current version of anything (well, 
anything that makes new releases more than once every couple years), 
based strictly on what Dan said about their release cycles.  The typical 
definition of a 'release' is a set of software that is fixed on major 
revisions.  So within a release, you might issue bugfixes and security 
updates, but no major version changes (especially for packages like 
apache v1->v2 that have config files not amenable to automatic upgrade).

Take typical desktop software: Gnome releases every six months.  KDE 
releases every six months.  Firefox doesn't have a lot of data points, 
but it was one year between v1.5 and v2.0, and one and half years 
between v2.0 and v3.0.

A distro that releases every six months (Ubuntu, Fedora) is much more 
likely to have the latest of something (even if it is a 'disruptive' 
upgrade such as the apache one I mentioned earlier).  A distro that only 
releases every 2-3 years and focuses on stability (Debian, RHEL) won't 
feel as much urgency to push a "feature" release out, at least until 
their own next major release.

Matt