[pellaeon]

I have few experience with Linux distros other than Ubuntu, so I'm only comparing FreeBSD with Ubuntu. Linux distros are so diverse I don't think you can just compare all of them with FreeBSD anyway.

I have both FreeBSD servers and Ubuntu servers. Thing I like the most with FreeBSD is its further separation (compared with Ubuntu) of OS (kernel and world) from third-party software. In Ubuntu every package comes in multiple versions for different releases, in FreeBSD there's only one version.

There's no "because I want git 1.8 so I have to upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04", in FreeBSD you can install the latest version of git on all supported OS versions. (In my experience even a slightly outdated OS version can run latest third-party software quite smoothly)

Software in FreeBSD Ports (its system getting third-party software) catch up with upstream releases very quickly. You might think they have less testing than that is in Ubuntu/Debian, but I don't know if it's really the case. Though I rarely encounter bugs with these cutting-edge software in FreeBSD.

I speak mainly from the experience with Ubuntu, I'm not so familiar with other Linux distros.

[baldfat]

Wait what? You are stating an Ubuntu thing about versions that are non-specific to Linux and to a Distro.

Rolling release distros (Arch Linux, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, and Gentoo. n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_release

I like BSD but I prefer Linux BOTH are good. BSD is just a different flavor of NIX.

[pellaeon]

Yeah, I know rolling release distros, though I haven't used any of them. Though I should have mentioned it.

Just put up a disclaimer.

I often hear stability issues with Tumbleweed, and even more complaints of software breaking after an upgrade (software upgrade, not OS upgrade) on ArchLinux. (I heard ArchLinux's philosophy is "fix it yourself")

So I guess you can get more stable bleeding edge software in FreeBSD than OpenSUSE Tumbleweed and ArchLinux. I don't know the case with Gentoo, I don't often hear things about it.

[ReidZB]

I've used Arch for years now---on the same install. The only thing that has been unstable about my system is the function of my USB A/D converter (microphone). Other than that, there has never been an upgrade where something broke. Now, sure, it is wise to check the Arch homepage before you upgrade, just in case some action needs to be taken: that's something that you don't really have to do with, e.g., Debian. But if you do that, as I've done, you probably will never have major problems upgrading.

In fact, I actually dread Ubuntu updates far more ... I've had them break various and sundry things about my (previously-working) system. In my experience, at least, Ubuntu is far less stable than Arch. With that said, though, I haven't used Ubuntu since 12.04 and 10.04 before that, so I don't know how it fares anymore.

[icebraining]

There's no "because I want git 1.8 so I have to upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04", in FreeBSD you can install the latest version of git on all supported OS versions.

Isn't that because ports are used compiled from source? You can do the same on Ubuntu with apt-get build-dep && apt-get source -b, which will install the build dependencies, download the source and compile it.

[sergiosgc]

If you have experience with ubuntu and the non rolling nature of the distro hurts you, then try debian testing. It's stable enough for desktop use, similar to ubuntu and has rolling updates. I personally run debian unstable (one up on the bleeding edge ladder), but I tolerate the occasional breakage.