image description: two soyjaks superimposed on a terminal screen, pointing towards the terminal output that reads the following:
91 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
N: Repository 'http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease' changed its 'Version' value from '12.4' to '12.5'
Debian is the only distro you can setup with unattended upgrades and not have any issues or changes. Debian also has quick security patches compared to well know stability like RHEL.
I've setup Debian to host a few services in the past only to completely forget about it. It ran for years without me touching it.
Eh, updates still break things on Debian just like on Arch. It may happen less often but when you do run into problems, you're completely screwed. I updated to Debian 12 like a year ago and still haven't fixed all the issues because it's a server and reinstalling the entire OS is completely out of the question and a beyond reasonable amount of work. On Arch, stuff breaks more often but the saving grace is that everything breaks often enough that you can count on there being an up to date wiki page for whatever problems you run into. On Debian if something semi obscure breaks, that feature is gone for good if you hate format and reinstalls.
Tbf, I did eventually get everything except zoneminder (and the ability to automatically reconnect to wifi when it loses connection WITHOUT HUMAN INTERVENTION) working again on my Debian server but the fact is it 100% worked before the update.
An update and a dist upgrade are two very different beasts. If anyone is advocating for unattended distribution upgrades they're mad. Especially on a production server. That is something that needs planning and testing.
This is why I use debian on my noobie home servers (I'm sorry Ubuntu I dont like you.) It runs my minecraft server just right. Its also why Arch is my daily work laptop. People's whose only relation to linux is knowing me marvel at a command line update, and well anything command line.
I agree on Ubuntu Server, messed around with it a bit years ago and was impressed how easy certain things were to set up, but evaluating it in virtual to see if it would be a good fit for a server I'm building right now, it was just annoyance after annoyance while Debian, though it had less ready out of the box, just.... Worked. In a sensible fashion.
I honestly think something is wrong with the only physical server I have. Bought it for 100 bucks in a parking lot and it wipes everything when it restarts. So I should maybe give Ubuntu a little more slack who knows what else was going on in this shitbox.
Running sid for 5 years now. Had one major breakage where couldnt boot into DE automatically for a few days. I think it affected everyone....
Had one other minor breakage where i ignored a warning from apt-listbugs.... I learned my lesson after that
So... Overall, sid has been a really good experience.. Just make sure you read the listbugs warning on every update. And always double check if running full-upgrade to ensure nothing important is getting removed