I have been running Fedora Core 2 on a server for the past year, but a few recent (and some not-so-recent) problems with rpm's and updates are pushing me to find a new distribution. Here are my main requirements:

• no rpm-based distributions
• continuous updates
• not having to go through the install process ever again in order to update the distribution (apt works nicely for this, with testing added to your sources)
• The main use of the server is Samba and NFS. I won't need to install new programs often.
• Fairly recent software (less than 6 month old versions)
• No GUI
• Stability is not a big issue, though I don't want completely broken software packages.
• Performance is not an issue (current average load: 1%)

I thought about the following distributions:

• debian-testing (I like apt. I already run a debian-testing server, but I would like to try something new. )
• Slackware (Many people say it's the best, but nobody has given me any reasons. I looked at the pros listed in the reviews section, but most just say something like: "pros: it's Slackware")
• Gentoo (I used it once, and I liked it, but I am a little concerned, as the server is an old P3-733Mhz/256mb. Can anyone give me an idea of the compile times?)

I would like some information about the pros and cons of these distributions, as well as general recommendations about the upgrade process (what to back up; should I restore backups, or just rebuild the settings; should I format /home and restore from backups, or just mount the old /home, etc.)

I think Gentoo sounds like a good idea. The install might take a while, but if you don't want to optimize everything you can get it installed from binaries. Updating is simple: and you will have the newest versions on your computer.

I changed from Mandrake 10.1 to Gentoo on my desktop last winter, and I kept my home partition intact. All the settings were usable as such when I mounte dmy old /home-directory once I had everything installed. Of course something can alwasy go wrong, so backup is a good idea. Another directory you might want to save is /etc with all the settings. It might not be usable as such, but at least you can look up old working configurations.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

It should run really good on there, just might take a while to install.

well i say slackware is good and i will say why...

1. Simple internals
2. Very responsive compaired to every other distro ive tried
3. Easy to configure (at least for me, since u used gentoo then configuration shouldnt be hard for u)
4. Slackware is very stable. I've used fedora core 3 and some other lesser known distros and ive never had slackware crash or freeze on me although fedora core 3 froze on me about 3 times in a week (i tend to abuse my OS, lol)
5. u can easily get slackware setup with the bare minimum.

id suggest u check out the server distro im working on. it isnt fully finished but it would be a good base for you to start with (LDIOSse).
http://www.iso.undergroundhangout.co...s/Testing/ISO/

its based on slackware 10.1 but has recent packages and kernel and the update process will be simple:
netpkg applicationname

if a package isnt available in the repository, u could check out the slackware package browser for a lot of packages. could also check linuxpackages.net
http://www.slackware.com/pb/
http://linuxpackages.net

install a package with:
installpkg /path/to/file/packagename.tgz

NOTE: LDIOSse automatically starts apache, mysql and others at startup. to stop this (you might in ur situation) just edit /etc/rc.d/rc.local to remove the startup command and remove the server package (all one package for easy use and removal as needed.