Very stable Linux

CaneX

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I'm a developer and I work in Linux simply because it's stable and safe. I use it on all my other PC's as well because I love it, and think it's the best OS for every application. Problem is that the last couple of years I've noticed how my development environment has started to become a lot of work to keep stable, and after every upgrade I need to spend a couple of hours getting everything to work again. This is really not ideal when you don't have the time for it.
Can someone please recommend a distribution that is just plain stable. I use the JetBrains suite, mostly PHPStorm and Android Studio. The rest is pretty standard, lost of VM's, DB's, LibreOffice, messaging and browsing. That's it, I don't use my dev PC for anything else. I just want a system that I can properly setup once and it just works, like the good old days.
 


Tell us which Linux you use... so we don't recommend that one! :)

Many people (like me) don't like upgrades and prefer fresh installs of a new version. But what exactly do you mean by "loses stability?" How or why does it take "hours" to get it working? Would not a good backup solution, like rsync or Timeshift, bring you back to where you left off? Maybe all those hours of work could be simplified with a script?

Anyway, my vote for stability would be Debian. (Unless you are using Debian! ;))
 
Debian or RHEL(or a RHEL clone such as CentOS). I run a rolling release distro and I've only had things break once or twice and they were minor things, within a day they pushed new updates to fix those issues so it will be interesting to know which GNU/Linux distribution you are currently running.
 
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If stability is the main thing, I would vote for Redhat/CentOS/Unbreakable (these are all based on Redhat). Redhat runs the internet. It's in more data centers than all other OS's put together.
Most of Fortune 500 runs on Redhat.

The downside... in order to get Redhat as stable as it is... it is tested, and tested, and tested, and then tested again... Did I mention they test it? This usually takes a long time, Redhat typically runs a year or two behind hobbyist Linux's. They don't release anything until it's gone through about a year of testing.

So while your Ubuntu and Fedora systems might be on on a 5.9 kernel. Redhat and CentOS are still on a 4.18 or 3.10 kernel. This also means if you need the latest cutting edge versions of Eclipse, Java, PHP, Python, gcc, etc.... you'll likely be a little behind the latest versions.

Inevitably, people ask... well can't I just install the newer stuff on my stable OS? You can, but then it's back to being untested, and perhaps.. unstable.
 
are coming from yes , i know where you @dos2unix its a bit of a balance. Slackware has a reputation for stability, but if you develop with php you have a problem with stable release 14.2 even a core contributor has referred to it as "stale". With 14.2 release I could mash it up and could have maybe compiled my own kernel , oh yes and supporting libraries and install php 7.3 . 14.2 has php something like 5.4 which is no good for say working with CodeIgniter etc.

I'm using Slackware current which has php 7.4.1 i've seem comment from Mr P Volkerding that a beta release is not far away, also that if he waits a couple of months there might be a LTS kernel 5.10 . I don't recommend Slackware now but keep your eyes open, if 15 is released in a few months I can say it will be rock solid
 
Thank you for the replies! It's all good advice. I guess a good backup solution is the way to go.
dos2unix, I think you have summed up the issue very well, Redhat and CentOS would be my preference but as you say, you then again need to install untested software versions or compile it yourself, which just adds a lot of time again.
I'm currently running Ubuntu, think I'll try Debian again
 
I developed my own Linux based on Buntu - give it a look
home page is here
or my sourceforge page is here
 
Another recommendation of CentOS. Look at the length of support for CentOS. It reminds you that it's more a server distro than a workstation, but you can configure it as a fine workstation and have rock-solid stability for darned near a decade. Seriously, check their support length. The EOL for CentOS 8 isn't until 2029.
 
If you need just stable Linux, then only Debian. But I think you can look at Debian fork too - MX Linux, it's very popular and developers have good experience in Linux.
 

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