this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Running up-to-date software gives me far less problems than running software full of bugs that were fixed 5 years ago, personally. If you find a new bug, you can at least report it and hope to see it fixed in the next update. You find bugs that were fixed years ago, but the fixed version isn't in your repo, and then you have to start building things yourself.
I just don't see that much progress. I see lots of wheels spinning, but there are bugs fixed, bugs introduced, refactors that improve things, refactors that degrade things... I was plenty productive 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago (o.k. - things definitely have improved since 2005, but...) when I install a new system these days, it's not always a step forward.
BIG, HUGE, RIDICULOUS example: Debian dropped the underlying library supporting RTSP stream viewing in VLC and many other packages, didn't replace it with ANYTHING. So: all those IP cameras scattered around the yard? Yep, I can view them in VLC in Ubuntu 20.04, but not 22.04, or 24.04, not even in the latest builds as far as I know. That particular issue can be worked around in native Debian (not Ubuntu) with a particular independently maintained repository which still included those (and many other) libraries that Debian has dropped without functional replacement over the past 5-10 years. Yeah, I complained to the writer/maintainer of the library that his feud with Debian isn't winning any fans. He, predictably, doesn't care.