Stuart Longland (VK4MSL)<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://chaosfem.tw/@rooster" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>rooster</span></a></span> I've used a few distributions in my time, having started with Red Hat in 1996 and migrated over to Slackware.</p><p>Python stuff: the best support I've seen so far for <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/Python" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Python</span></a> has been in <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/Gentoo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Gentoo</span></a>. You can have multiple Python interpreters installed side-by-side (including pypy), when you install a Python module that's packaged as a Gentoo package, it will install that module for each interpreter you have installed.</p><p>I've not seen that in other distributions. That said, maintenance can be cumbersome.</p><p>That said, the permutations and combinations of compiler toolchain and libraries can give rise to C++ headaches. Some upstream projects refuse to support Gentoo.</p><p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://strangeobject.space/@esther" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>esther</span></a></span> suggested FreeBSD… the BSD space in general is worthy of a look. Very good (NOT Linux-based) operating systems with a long history. There's also <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/NetBSD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NetBSD</span></a> (focussed on portability), <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/OpenBSD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenBSD</span></a> (NetBSD fork focussed on security), <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/DragonFlyBSD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DragonFlyBSD</span></a> (FreeBSD fork, not tried it).</p><p>Lots have suggested <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/Debian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Debian</span></a> -- a fine choice if you have a regular desktop computer and don't want to spend your day compiling. Widely supported and understood.</p><p>I won't comment on <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/Fedora" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Fedora</span></a>: my memories of it were circa 2004 or so.</p><p>I did try <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/CentOS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CentOS</span></a> in a VM (actually needed it because Tridium's development environment requires it), and found it a very bloated OS.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/Ubuntu" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Ubuntu</span></a> isn't bad if you need hand-holding, but I do find it too is a very "heavy" OS, even with a lightweight desktop. Quite pre-occupied with "snap" packages. I use it at work because that's the company standard (with the FVWM desktop, which confuses colleagues no end).</p><p>Won't comment on <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/OpenSuSE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OpenSuSE</span></a> -- I do recall using <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/SuSE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SuSE</span></a> Linux years ago, and it too, was a very "big" OS, but once again, we're talking 20 years ago or more.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/Slackware" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Slackware</span></a> is still kicking, probably the longest-running Linux distribution there is. (The one that came before it was <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/Yggdrasil" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Yggdrasil</span></a>) Lightweight, but be prepared for it to emulate Linux From Scratch when something you want isn't shipped in the packages.</p><p>Speaking of which, <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/LinuxFromScratch" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LinuxFromScratch</span></a> is an option if you're a masochist. 🙂 If you think Gentoo is hard, this is a LOT of work! You are the package manager, and software repo!</p><p>If you want small, and binary compatibility isn't an issue, <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/AlpineLinux" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AlpineLinux</span></a> is worthy of a look. Gentoo-ish feel (with OpenRC), but binary packages. A VM can be installed in 50MB!</p><p>If you really want small for an embedded project, <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/BuildRoot" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BuildRoot</span></a> is worth a look.</p><p>I've heard good things about <a href="https://mastodon.longlandclan.id.au/tags/ArchLinux" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ArchLinux</span></a> but never tried it, so can't comment further.</p><p>That was a long post, but hopefully that gives you some ideas. 🙂</p>