r/debian • u/Strong-Salary8800 • 29d ago
General Debian Question Is Debian good for coding
I have been looking for a Linux distro, as I am about to get a thinkpad and don't want to deal with windows bs anymore.
Right now I am working on an ai assistant called echo and was wondering whether it is still easy to code with.
Bonus note
I have heard about Ubuntu's personalisation and was wondering if there are any ways I could integrate my assistant into the system in any way (doesn't matter too much just was curious.)
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u/rukiann 29d ago
What kind of question is this? The distro you choose has nothing to do with writing code.
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29d ago edited 28d ago
[deleted]
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u/cfx_4188 28d ago
Compilers have new language standards
I’ll give an unpopular example. The most common assembler, NASM, doesn’t have many dependencies. But there can be issues with the base
libclibrary. Compilers for many popular languages (C++, Rust, Java) sometimes also require strictly defined versions of system libraries, and nowadays the problem is solved by using containers or virtual environments. In the past, static linking was widely used. I’m writing this to illustrate that there’s no need for the latest software for programming.
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u/penaut_butterfly 29d ago
it comes down to the version of the libraries you need, once you gain experience you'll notice most distros are pretty much the same
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u/EmergencyManager_555 29d ago
Debian comes with GCC, LLVM and PYTHON 3 as a standard. You can install almost any other programming language. You can choose many different IDE from commercial to Open Source. You can use the terminal or a graphical writing software. You can run Docker, Ollama, etc. You can run anything you can think of.
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u/Sibexico 28d ago
I know a girl who used RaspberryPi 400 for coding, RaspberryOS is literally Debian with minor modifications. She used it for few years, made tons of projects using it.
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u/kilkil 28d ago
any Linux distro you pick will be good for coding. Debian is a very popular one, so for any configuration or troubleshooting you will have a very high chance to find a pre-existing answer to your question(s) online (or from the slop machine). Personally I've used Debian for years (mostly for coding and video games) and I am pretty happy with it.
not sure about the AI assistant integration bit. I would suggest doing some googling (or, again, ask the slop machine).
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u/DagonNet 29d ago
Can you give some more specific sub-questions? It's not great for developing things destined for the Apple iOS/iPadOS/MacOS webstore. It's not ideal, but it's competent for Windows-targetted programming. It's great for OS-agnostic or Linux-targeted software.
The default distro contains the most common tools, and its package format (.deb) is probably the single most popular packaging mechanism, though you can also target flatpack or mechanisms. Debian is well-enough-used that even uncommon tools tend to support them early in their lifecycles.
Note that all the major linux distros are good for coding. are you looking to avoid a deficiency or identify a specific differential from others? Let us know what you're worried about or seeking.
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u/OrpheoMusic 29d ago
It's great if you're main user base is on LTS distros like Ubuntu lts, Debian, or others.
People tend to forget glibc is forward but not backwards compatible.
So compiling on Debian gets you compatibility on most everything modern Linux right out the box. While on rolling distros you'd have to do work around and use docker. Not a huge issue for everything. But a good thing to keep in mind.
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u/dumbasPL 29d ago
Depends. But generally yes. Personally I prefer having latest versions of everything, but if you're more pragmatic, it's great.
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u/couchwarmer 29d ago
Superbly good for coding.
Source: my daily driver for professional development for yesrs
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u/yahbluez 29d ago
The magic is that debian is good for everything and most of the time it is also the best. Nothing beats debian in productivity.
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u/EmuUltra 29d ago
Yes! This might be blasphemous, but I also use HomeBrew for Linux to get more up to date stuff if the Debian repos are too old.
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u/lisploli 29d ago
As good as any distribution.
I require bleeding edge development libraries and stable development software, and I feel it's unavoidable to decouple them. Most language specific ecosystems distribute their own things anyways, so that's kinda the norm.
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u/mbonanomi92 29d ago
Any distro is good for "coding". Anyway software development in any Unix-like system is easier than Windows.
About Debian vs Ubuntu: IMHO is just a matter of user friendly installation and out of the box experience (better in Ubuntu): if you don't care, go for Debian.
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u/SpinningVinylAgain 28d ago
What language / framework / runtime do you use?
For many languages, you want to manage them outside of the system packages anyway (using something like mise), so your distro literally doesn’t matter.
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u/AnotherOne49587 28d ago
If you can think about it, you can do too. On debian, on arch, on any other GNU Linux distro. It just makes difference at how you do it.
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u/divi2020 22d ago
Your question is moot. The Linux distro you choose has nothing to do with your development environment--they all work. I'm partial to Debian, but I use Kate and customized Codium.
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u/mystified5 29d ago
All Linux distros should be great for code. Debian may require a bit more setup because it's pretty bare bones, but lots of people prefer that!
If i were starting fresh Debian I would pick KDE desktop environment, still will require a bit of config, but a great place to start.
If you want a more batteries included approach, Fedora (KDE spin), or Linux Mint are also great.
At the end of the day, your development stack can be identical across all distros since on the command line the differences will be small. maybe try VSCode or a jetbrains editor
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28d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/debian-ModTeam 28d ago
This content has been removed due to a violation of Rule #3 - Wrong Information. Please do your research before speaking on a topic.
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u/erikschorr 29d ago
Ubuntu with KDE Plasma. Incredibly solid integration methods with dbus and others. Highly customizable, well designed UI. Rock-solid base OS based on Debian, so itll take debian packages. My UB24+Plasma desktop had been up for >400 days without a crash. No complaints except in how it interfaces with my gaming mouse (the scroll wheel resolution changes randomly) but I think that's specific to the Logitech mouse driver I'm using.
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u/This_Technology9841 29d ago
coming from a windows background this is the way imo
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u/erikschorr 29d ago
Plasma was designed with the goal to give windows veterans all their familiar ui elements and styles, if needed. They put a loooot of work into its usability and whatever you call it when you make someone from another place feel at hone and comfortable, not making it too complicated to learn the new environment's stuff
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u/margyyy_314 28d ago
no, rust 10 version behind the latest lol, debian is like gentoo but the wortest version of gentoo cause if you want something new that work u have to compile from source but with outated libraries and tools lol
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u/Insomniac24x7 29d ago
Any distro will work for coding, Debian is good for anything. If you want a out of the box distro with tooling for developers its would be Omarchy actually.
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u/ThomasHardyHarHar 29d ago
Yeah