Josh Saddler

Hey again. Back with part 3 of the Distribution Checklist series. This series poses a number of smart questions to consider when examining distributions -- "Which one is right for me?" In the first part of the series, I examined hardware support and the package manager. In the second part, I took a look at maintaining the distribution, its available tools, and its installation process. For the third and final part, I'll look at the distribution's "identity," or meta-questions about the distribution, its history, its users & developers, and so on. Again, some of these questions were written to help me choose a potential replacement distro for my ancient P3 laptop, but as a whole each point is something to compare a distribution against.

Identity

A. Who are the distribution's intended users? To whom does it cater? Rather than jump through hoops and do a lot of unnecessary work to turn a distro into something I need that it wasn't designed for, it's probably easier to just find one that will do what I want from the get-go.
B. Are the available packages sufficient for the distro's intended purpose? New or older unmaintained distros may have attractive features, but if they can't deliver the applications to do the job (not enough developers, time, hardware, interest, technical issues, etc.), perhaps they should be reconsidered.
C. Supported languages. My native language is English, so I need a distro that is designed for English-speaking users. Within the last few months I came across elpicx, a liveCD distro designed to prepare users for the LPIC tests etc., with lots of study guides, practice tests, and so on. To my dismay, despite what I'd seen in a few reviews and screenshots, English was nowhere to be found; it was only in German -- that is, when programs actually worked.
D. Branding: while this was touched upon in part 1, one fun, personal touch I occasionally like to see is if a distro goes the extra distance to (optionally!) include some branding on packages or the desktop environment. Logos, a pleasing color theme, wallpaper, etc. Gentoo offers an excellent splashscreen for Gnome via the "branding" USE flag, and there are a number of Gentoo-related bootsplash themes available.
-- Branding can be done right (sensibly and conservatively), or it can be done wrong. No one wants to see a tacky, hideously-colored panel and menu icons or window bars, or to see the distro's logo and name plastered on every available surface. It's not likely that I'll forget which distro I'm using!
E. History and goals: where did the distribution come from? Where is it going?
-- What are its goals and intentions, or if there are no overarching goals for the distro as a whole, what about its individual projects.
-- Are timelines or estimated dates of completion available (for any number of things).
-- Based on these factors, how long are you likely to continue using it. Remember when Libranet announced it was closing its doors? It would have been a bad idea to jump on board that distro as it wound down.
F. Reputation: sometimes reputations are deserved, sometimes they're unfair, and in many cases they're based on a much too limited subset of users, developers, incidents, etc.
-- What do the longtime users say? Newcomers? Former users?
-- While reviews should be taken with a heap of salt, what do reviewers say? Are those reviewers actually properly educating them about their subject? Spotting a good review vs. a bad review is another important skill to learn when hunting among distros. I can't count the number of times I've run into a poor review of Gentoo because the reviewer couldn't be bothered (or didn't have enough time, interest, etc.) to figure out even the basics of Gentoo or gain any understanding of our philosophy. Negatively reviewing a distribution because the reviewer didn't "get it" in some crucial way happens far too often, though it's something that's easy to do, regardless of how much one tries to go in with one's eyes open.
-- With all that said, in available reviews, are there recurring themes or similar praises and gripes?
-- What are those reviewers' impressions of the user base and developers?
G. Community: A distro can live and die by the encounters one can have with its community of users, developers, and contributors.
-- What forms of interaction are available? Forums, IRC, mailing lists, etc.
-- Is the community helpful? Are their responses generally timely? Do they welcome newcomers? Is the community generally knowledgeable? Friendly?
H. End-user support: this is related to the community. Everyone runs into problems at some point; how they are resolved depends on the distribution. Sometimes paid support exists, sometimes only free community support is available.
-- For paid support, what kind of pricing and plans are available?
-- What kind of community support is available? Are there official support forums, mailing lists, IRC channels?
I. Sponsoring and support: let's say I'm really impressed with a distro, so impressed I'd like to hand over some cash. Can I do that?
-- Can I donate to the distro directly? If not, how much will go to the distro, and how will it be used?
-- Who are some other sponsors or infrastructure hosts/donors? Impress me! Who else supports the distro?
-- Is there a store with distribution-related merchandise available for purchase, aka swag. Things like clothing, CDs/DVDs, stickers, mugs, even preloaded USB keys. Everyone likes swag!
J. Development: last, but certainly not least. At some point I'll want to help out with a distro; that's how I ended up where I am now. I should mention that I'm not necessarily placing an arbitrary distinction between "users" and "developers," because in a very real sense, everyone is a "user."
-- How easy is it to get involved? Are there guides for the process, a staffing needs page, or other helpful pointers for those interested.
-- What are some obvious areas in which the distro needs help; where is it understaffed?
-- How do the developers and users interact? This is also community-related, as it can be for personal relations as well as for technical reasons. How do users contact the developers?
-- Is there a bug reporting center such as Bugzilla? How quickly do developers respond to and fix bug reports?
-- Are developers open to suggestions and offers of assistance?
-- What VCS (if any) is used? Is anonymous checkout possible? How about a web-based source viewer? Or is there some other resource available for contributors without commit access.
-- What is the distro's hierarchy or chain of command? How is its "totem pole" structured: who's on the top and who's on the bottom? How is the developer/contributor base organized?

Putting it all together

If this 3-part series is anything to go by, there's quite a lot to consider when choosing a distribution, whether for the first time or as yet another replacement. I've never been the kind of person to just distro-hop every few months. I like to pick one and stay with it, as I've done with Gentoo for more than two years. These questions have been designed to help me formulate my thoughts and gauge my reactions to all the distributions out there.

I'm sure there are even more question and concerns I'll have each time I examine the latest distro to catch my eye, but this checklist is a solid base I can return to again and again. Who knows -- maybe I'll even put a distro through the wringer and report my findings right here on my blog.

I encourage you to make a checklist like this the next time you find an interesting distribution, be it Linux, BSD, or something even more exotic, and see what you find out. You can even use this one, of course! And hey, if nothing in the whole wide world fits your needs and desires, well, you could just create your own and let the rest of us try it out.

Until then, thanks for sticking with me.