[OSGeo-Discuss] Ubuntu vs. Centos for GIS?

[Stephen Woodbridge]

On 4/2/2014 2:57 PM, Alex Mandel wrote:
> On 04/02/2014 11:13 AM, David Strom wrote:
>> We have a project where people are using R & Grass & GDAL for various
>> sorts of Geoprocessing.  The first server we put up is running Ubuntu
>> 12.0.4, and we installed Grass, Gdal, etc. from repository(ies) - i.e.,
>> we didn't build it.
>>
>> 2nd server is running Centos, because of EMC SAN storage, thought it
>> might be easier because RedHat is supported by EMC, but not Ubuntu.
>> Installed Grass, GDAL, etc. from elgis repository.
>>
>> Centos system can't create BigTiffs, but the Ubuntu system can (GDAL
>> page says BigTiff should be supported by default, I think0, so we're
>> wondering if we should switch that system over to running Ubuntu.
>>
>> I wonder if anyone has any experience(s) to share in picking a Linux
>> distro, pro or con.  I don't mean to complain about anyone's repository,
>> we just don't have that much time to devote to admin efforts, so we
>> would rather install FOSS from repositories, rather than having to build
>> everything.
>>
>> Opinions, stories?
>>
>> TIA
>> --
>>
> In general, the current state of affairs, is the DebianGIS and UbuntuGIS
> repositories are more up to date and managed than the ELGis
> (Redhat/Centos/Fedora) group. I suspect it's simply a reflection of
> people hours available and put into the respective systems.
>
>
> The other option is the OpenSuse build service which has both Suse and
> some Redhat builds (the main person behind this is also on Ubuntugis Team)
> https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/Application:Geo
> OR I think the Postgis/Postgres teams have a somewhat up to date repo of
> some stuff
> http://yum.postgresql.org/packages.php
>
> I'd assume the build difference in drivers is mostly dependency
> libraries and compile time options. GDAL is tricky in that if you need
> some formats you can't really avoid compiling it. Of course compiling
> GDAL does not mean you have to compile everything else you need.
> Or you can bug and bribe the package managers about why they didn't
> include a particular format and what it takes to add it (non-free
> formats, it's a licensing issue).
>
> Thanks,
> Alex
>
> Disclaimer: I'm on the UbuntuGIS/DebianGIS lists and not the ELGis.

I'll echo Alex's sentiment that it is easier to get the OSGeo related 
stack of packages on Ubuntu. I have recently been migrating my servers 
from older Debian releases over to Ubuntu 12.10 LTS and have not found 
it an issue except that I have had occasional issues with hardware 
support on newer mother boards and controller cards.

At the moment (2 wks ago), I had trouble finding current GIS packages 
for CentOS and had my client switch over to Ubuntu which is working out 
fine.

A lot of people like RH and CentOS because you can get paid support so I 
understand the need for support. It just seems to lag getting there by 6 
month to a year in my experience.

-Steve