Technical Distinctions

The Debian Package System:

• A package contains all the files for a set of related commands or features.  Two types of packages:
1. Binary: Contain executables, config files, man pages, etc...  These are in a Debian archive format and end with .deb.
2. Source: Contains an original tar file with unmodified source.  A .diff.gz file contains Debian specific changes to the source.
• The utility dpkg is used on binary files, dpkg-source is used for source packages.
• There are three levels of dependency in .deb files: Depends (required by some other package), Recommends (not required but enhances another package), Suggests (not required but may be useful with another package).

Package Pluses:

• Debain packages tend to be very stable and work well together because all the package maintainers tend to communicate.
• Packages are subdivided to avoid duplications.
• The APT utility allows automatic downloads of new packages for upgrade.
• Vs. RedHat: (comments from mailing list archives)
1. Packages are less prone to breakage when upgrading.
2. Nearly all software is packaged "officially" and quality

 controlled. Most RPMs are broken or incorrectly packaged or designed
 for a distribution other than the one you have; it's easy to break your
 system with these. Even the official Red hat RPMs don't have the
 quality of Debian packages; consider that Debian maintainers usually
 use the software themselves.

Stability:

• Evolution is slower and more deliberate since there are no commercial oriented deadlines to meet.  This promotes stability.
• Packages are more likely to work well together.
• Quality Control (see below).
• Comment from mailing list: Small touches: backspace/delete work right in most apps,   for example. There are tons of little things like this that Debian gets right.

Quality Control:

• The bug tracking system is available for users and developers.  Each bug is given a number and is kept on file until it is marked as being delt with.
• Bug tracking is available on the web site for all to see and contribute to (or help fix).

Platforms:

Debian is currently (as of 2.1 Slink) available for the following platforms:

• Intel x86
• Motorola 68k
• Alpha
• Sun SPARC
• Hurd-i386: Hurd is the GNU kernel.  Hurd is currently available for x86.  Current release is experimental but an adequate development environment is available.

Future Platforms being worked on:

• ARM
• PPC
• MIPS
• Sun UltraSPARC
• Beowulf: Not really a platform but a clustering system.