So why didn’t I feel like upgrading? Well, ever since I got into managing my own servers, I always preferred Debian for its proven stability, especially in the “stable” branches. However, that stability comes with a price. More often than not, software packages are seriously outdated, especially in the older-than-current releases (Etch for instance). Upgrading to Lenny will probably upgrade most software to a somewhat more recent version, but it would probably still be lagging at least months behind in most cases.

Then, there’s the fact that I’ve become increasingly interested in using the newer features of software, especially those found in PHP 5.3. Playing with all that new stuff in my local testing environment is all fun and dandy, but soon or later, one might want to publish a creation or two. Having a server capable of running those creations helps.

So, I’m currently looking for a new Linux distro, which is somewhat more up-to-date than Debian. Preferably something with a rolling release system. I want updates when they’re ready, not when a release schedule says it’s time. I also want a bare-bones base system and then add the desired packages myself. When installing Debian and selecting to install packages for a “web server”, it installs all sorts of stuff one would rarely need. Or simply tings one would rather choose a different program for. I just want a bare-bones system with only what’s needed to run and a package manager that handles dependencies for me.

I’ve been playing around with Arch Linux for some time, and I like it. It complies with all my wishes as mentioned above, it’s lean, it’s a rolling release system, and has an elegant package manager that does its job well. Configuration is a bit more labour intensive than Debian (less automated), but since setting up a server is mainly a one-time process, that’s not really a problem.

I’m not fixed on Arch. I’m also planning to try out some BSD variants, and perhaps some other Linux distros. Trying out and playing with new OS’s is a rather time consuming activity, though. Luckily, I have some more free time available lately. I’m not expecting to have this server running another OS in the next couple of weeks, but I should get around to it in the following month or three.

Then, as a final note, there’s also the new layout for this web site that I’m contemplating. I made a mockup recenly, but it only showed I had a lot of thinking things through ahead of me.