do the security fixes have to be compiled? again, i see that as a negative on a server, regarding it as almost a "grey downtime" (to coin a phrase -- remember, you heard it here first ).

A server does not necessarily have to go down in order to compile software or perform security upgrades (obviously you need to test the upgrades first, usually on a similar machine). On a webserver for example, it won't take long to compile AMP (15 - 20 mins on my Sempron 2600 whilst doing other stuff on the system).

AFAIK Gentoo has special hardened sources for plus in security BUT then why make life difficult if in this case it might not need to be.

i don't really see -- on a single processor system, at least -- how you compile software and don't take a performance hit in other tasks. that's what i mean by "grey downtime," not that the system is totally down, but that it's preoccupied with other cpu intensive tasks that degrade performance during the time they're being executed. to me it doesn't make sense to have to devote those cpu cycles to compiling software on a server system. 15 minutes here, 20 minutes there -- it all adds up over time. i wouldn't want my users frustrated by making mysql queries while i was emerging some 15-minute compile, for example. having extra packages sitting on your system to support a binary is preferable to that scenario, imho. but to each his own.

I agree totaly. I just can't afford one of those cars.

regular security updates? gentoo is a rolling distro it's updated every day. and though I kindof see the point of grey downtime and not wanting to compile on servers, with portage niceness set to 6 I can do an emerge --update world and still play GTA:vicecity. also if you have identicle servers you can compile on 1 of them and make binary packages for the others, and yes gentoo supports binary packages too.

That's one of the best things about Gentoo- you always have an updated distribution and never have to upgrade. Maybe you will get a new profile, but the big stuff like KDE isn't likely to change much if a new version came out a while ago and you're already running it (like KDE 3.5.2.) Debian is better than most as apt-get dist-upgrade is easier than upgrading some others and it usually works okay. However, you do get stuck with outdated packages near the end of that version's lifecycle, and Debian stable is the butt of many jokes for that.

Since a Gentoo install will be slimmer and more optimized, it will be faster than a Debian server because of available resources and optimized programs. Maybe not dramatically, but in theory there will be more resources available since no unnecessary clutter will exist.

But really, if you can't afford downtime while you compile security updates on a Sunday night, then Debian is probably the better choice. It's also a quicker install.

Debian is great for servers because of package administration and tools available. Of course you can use any distro, but...