The original post: /r/linux by /u/Simple-Minute-5331 on 2024-12-22 11:26:22.

I always thought Ubuntu offers the more recent packages. This makes sense because they release every half a year but I thought this also applies to Ubuntu LTS. I thought LTS also updates its packages so its not too much outdated. But now I see I was wrong.

I see that the main repo for both Ubuntu LTS and Debian Stable keeps the same package versions it released with. It only does small updates for bugfixes or security fixes.

And because those distros release in different years, this would basically mean that one year Debian Stable has newer packages and other year Ubuntu LTS has newer ones. So none is more recent all the time.

But then I discovered backports. And what I see is that Debian is much more active with backports than Ubuntu. For example Debian Bookworm has cca 6200 backported packages. Ubuntu Jammy has only cca 300.

Edit: After checking source packages Debian Bookworm has 595 backported packages. Ubuntu Jammy has only 20.

I also found out that in some cases those Debian Stable backported packages are newer than those offered in more recent Ubuntu LTS.

Examples (Debian Bookworm backports vs Ubuntu Noble LTS):

qemu-system 9.1.2 vs 8.2.2

7zip 24.08 vs 23.01

python3-django 4.2.15 vs 4.2.11

So while Debian is often seen as the one with older packages, if you use backports you can actually have newer packages than are available in 1 year more recent Ubuntu LTS.

So if you want stable distro for your server and decide between Debian Stable and Ubuntu LTS it looks like Debian is the winner in newer packages.