"Stable" operating system - what does it mean exactly?

Posted by Maciej Ziarko on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Maciej Ziarko
Published on 2011-03-31T19:55:47Z Indexed on 2014/06/10 15:29 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 221

Filed under:

linux

|

operating-systems

|

terminology

I've been using Linux for more than 2 years now, and I'm a satisfied user. I started with Ubuntu, then switched to Fedora and now I'm fond of Linux Mint.

Linux is often described as "stable". I have some inkling of what it might mean, but today I felt the need to understand it completely.

So my question is...

What does it mean that operating system is stable? What are the features of stable system?

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about operating-systems

Choice of operating systems for a Rackspace cloud installation

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I am planning to use Rackspace cloud services to host a java web application and also run apace for wordpress and trac. What would be a stable operating system to host such an application. My requirements are that the core OS bundle should be minimalistic (so I can install only what I want), consume… >>> More
Which operating systems book is good as a quick refresher?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I am preparing for a technical interview and need to review the basics of major operating systems concepts. We used Tanenbaum's Modern Operating Systems in school for our operating systems course, which is a good book, but too long to be reviewed in the course of a few days. For an example, I am… >>> More
Do different operating systems have different read and write speeds?

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
If I have two different operating systems, such as Windows 8 and Ubuntu, running on the same hardware, will the two operating systems have different read and write speeds? My guess is that there would be minimal difference between operating systems and read and write speeds to the hard disk since… >>> More
Five Web Operating Systems You Can Take for a Spin

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Is a cloud-based WebOS in your network's future? Here are five you can try out from your own servers or from public hosting. >>> More
mobile devices operating systems

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
what are the operating systems which run on mobile devices?On which language are these developed? >>> More