Debian turns 23
Debian is my favourite OS[0]. I&#x27;ve been using it full time for years: I use it on my desktop and laptop (Debian testing), and servers (Debian stable). I&#x27;ve installed it with big success on parents and siblings computers, and the extended family&#x27;s computers.<p>Debian takes freedom seriously[1]<p>It&#x27;s getting better with age:<p>- Since Sarge (2005) there&#x27;s been release every ~2 years<p>- Debian LTS allows you to run Debian securely for 5 years (with caveats)<p>Things I agree with, that may be somewhat controversial:<p>- Debian takes packaging software seriously (it splits the application and development files)<p>- Debian follows the FHS (e.g. config goes in &#x2F;etc, data goes in &#x2F;var&#x2F;lib, etc)<p>- Debian stable is stable. Apart from security patches, it really doesn&#x27;t change.<p>Other great things:<p>- Debian is a great base to build on (see the many derivatives[2])<p>Cool things to come:<p>- Reproducible builds[3]<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.debian.org&#x2F;social_contract" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.debian.org&#x2F;social_contract</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Debian#Derivatives" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Debian#Derivatives</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.debian.org&#x2F;ReproducibleBuilds" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.debian.org&#x2F;ReproducibleBuilds</a><p>[0] I think Debian is one of the few Linux distros that can truly call itself an OS, as opposed to just a &quot;distro&quot;