You don't know how many times I've joked with an acquaintance who uses Debian because of his philosophy, nor how many times they have returned the ball for Ubuntu or the distro on duty that has been at a given time. Comparisons are hateful, but sometimes we have to make them. And it is that one of the queries that you make to us, or that appear directly in Google as a suggestion, is something related to Debian vs. Ubuntuso here we go.
I want to be honest, and if it is necessary for me to give my cold or more basic opinion, I give it so as not to waste anyone's time. If someone is doing well in a distribution, well, I think you have to do what has always been said: if something is going well, don't touch it. This article is not intended for those who are clear and comfortable using one distro or another, but for those who are thinking of changing scenery and the finalists in their decision are Ubuntu and Debian.
Debian vs Ubuntu: their upgrade philosophies
In order to decide between Debian and Ubuntu, the most important thing to keep in mind is The philosophy that each one has In this sense, we have three options, two of them related to Ubuntu:
- Debian Philosophy: It is a system on which many others are based, including Ubuntu itself. Speaking only of stable versions, they release one every two years, and their software is usually LTS, an acronym that translates into Spanish as long support. The kernel is usually kept in an LTS version that is far from the most up-to-date version, and many packages in the official repositories are of a slightly older version, but with many more maintenance patches that theoretically ensure stability. The best example of its popularity is in the browser, and in Debian Firefox ESR is often used instead of the latest stable version of the Mozilla browser.
- Ubuntu Philosophy: On the other hand, Ubuntu releases a version every six months, so the kernel and other packages are much more up-to-date than Debian's. Software like Firefox updates almost instantly, partly because it uses the snap version, and others like LibreOffice also update earlier than Debian. The problem with the versions every six months is that they are like a test bench for what we are going to see in the next point.
- Ubuntu LTS Philosophy: Canonical and the official flavors of Ubuntu release an LTS version every two years, and the philosophy of these is pretty much the same as that of Debian Stable. Both Ubuntu LTS and Debian Stable are supported for 5 years (some Ubuntu flavors only 3), but it's easier to see Ubuntu update packages than to see the same in Debian.
Summing this up
In short, when it comes to software and updates, Debian uses a bit old software, but very tested and without the problems derived from the new. Ubuntu's normal cycle releases (9 months) arrive every six months and core packages are updated every six months, while Ubuntu's LTS releases are more stable because they have a more conservative update philosophy.
It is worth mentioning that in Debian it is possible to use the versions or branches "testing" which are used as a test bed, but also use the much more up-to-date software. Thus, we would get an update experience similar to Ubuntu, but Project Debian does not advise using this version for serious tasks; they prefer stability.
Upgrade to a new version
I think this point is also important in an article that talks about Debian vs Ubuntu. And it is that the system that gives its name to this blog makes everything quite easy, with software with user interface from which you can easily upgrade. But successfully upgrading in Debian is not that easy.
To update the operating system in Ubuntu, just launch update-manager or write in terminal sudo do-release-upgrade and see if there is a new version or not. If there is, what we have to do is accept the notification and follow the steps that appear on the screen. Besides, is possible that in Debian it can be updated with the previous command, but the right way to do it happens to modify the sources.list file, for which you would have to follow these steps:
- First of all, as a precaution, make a backup copy of all important files.
- Packages are updated to the latest version with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade.
- We edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file with the latest version repositories.
- We update the packages and the system, this time with sudo apt update && sudo apt-full-upgrade.
- And finally, we restart the operating system. What never fails is to do it with sudo reboot.
More on philosophies: snaps and decisions like that
Canonical is a company that has grown in popularity over the years, and that has made it behave more like a company than an open source project. In recent years it has made controversial moves, such as using its own version of GNOME Software to prioritize snap packages above everything else. Or what's worse, software like Firefox is only available as a snap, and makes controversial decisions that part of the community doesn't like.
On the other hand, Debian behaves as it always has, as an open source algo project. It doesn't usually force users into anything, or at least nothing that they don't expect. They do everything with their own philosophy in mind, partly prioritizing stability, but we won't see moves as drastic as removing the DEB version of Firefox so that we use a certain type of packages.
Software installation
I add this point because there are people who know something about Linux but do not know some details well. Software installation on Debian and Ubuntu is done in a similar way. They both use the apt package manager to install packages from official repositories, and both allow us to install .deb packages from the terminal with the same command, something that is better explained in this article.
The main difference is again in the philosophy, and, for example, the main version of Ubuntu with its software store gives priority to snap packages. Of course, we can install GNOME Software on Ubuntu and even add support for flatpak packages.
The proprietary issue: Debian vs Ubuntu
Ubuntu, as a company that it is, reaches agreements with companies that develop proprietary software with which Debian does not get along so well. The "normal" Debian ISO does not support hardware that requires proprietary drivers, but for that there is Debian Non-free, a section of the distribution that contains software that cannot be distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL free software license. This section contains commercial or other software that cannot be freely distributed, such as device drivers, encryption programs, multimedia applications, and others. Some Debian versions include the Non-free section, while others do not.
In other words, normal ISOs would also be something to consider. Although Debian is designed to run on more computers, it is Ubuntu that during the installation can add proprietary software. Still, the solution would be to choose the Debian Non-Free ISO.
By the way, at the time of writing this article there was a debate about whether to add this option in the default installation and it seems that they will include it, so if you read this after a few months, this point might not apply.
Community support
Another thing that seems important to me and I usually take into account when choosing one program or another is documentation on the net. Documentation is closely related to popularity, and, for example, I prefer Kdenlive as a video editor because I seem to find out how to do something sooner than with other editors that are theoretically even easier to use.
When looking for how to do something on Linux, a very high percentage of what is out there explains how to do it on Ubuntu. Is it the same on Debian? Not always. A few months ago, some Kodi extensions stopped working on Linux due to using a newer version of Python and the first fix that was given was for the latest LTS version of Ubuntu. It is true that later it was explained how to do the same in Debian, but that, "later".
Therefore, if you need help or find answers soon, better Ubuntu.
and performance?
I am not going to lie to anyone saying that I have carried out tests with benchmarks and so on, but there is something to keep in mind: although Debian is theoretically more stable because it has more tested software, Ubuntu usually uses a latest kernel and a newer version of the desktop, so the performance will be slightly above. This is especially noticeable in the editions with GNOME, which since its jump from 3.30 to 40 has only gotten lighter version after version.
Is it a point that by itself should make us choose one or the other? In my opinion, no.
Debian vs Ubuntu: which one do I prefer?
In these articles, I do not like to try to be totalitarian, but to explain some things so that you are the ones who decide with the maximum possible information. I prefer Ubuntu because some things are easier and the software is updated before, but I also have to say that I have never had a computer where I needed total reliability. In fact, I have never stayed two years in an LTS version.
Therefore, to decide I would do it based on three points:
- Software more up-to-date or more stable?
- Documentation available.
- Drivers and proprietary software.
Knowing everything you now know after reading this Debian vs Ubuntu article, what would you choose?