That's why most shops deploy docker containters: it's not convenient at all for them for Debian, Red Hat, etc. to repackage the software they deploy or be opinionated about what versions of stuff is supported. For such users, the OS is just a runtime and it just needs to get out of the way.
Ten years ago, we were all doing puppet, chef and what not to customize our deployment infrastructure to run our software. That's not a common thing anymore for a lot of teams and I have not had to do stuff like that for quite some time. A lot of that work btw. involved working around packaging issues and distribution specific or distribution version specific issues.
I remember looking at the puppet package for installing ntp once and being horrified at the hundred lines of code needed to run something like that because of all the differences between platforms. Also such simple things like going from one centos version to the next was a non trivial issue because of all the automation dependencies on stuff that changed in some way (I remember doing the v5 to v6 at some point). Dealing with madness like that is a PITA I don't miss at all.
There's definitely some value in having something that is inert and unchanging for some companies that run software for longer times. Pretty much all the solutions I mentioned have LTS channels. E.g. If you want java 6 or 7 support, you can still get that. And practically speaking, when that support runs out I don't see how Debian would be in any way positioned to provide that in a meaningful way. The type of company caring about such things would likely not be running Debian but some version of Red Hat or something similarly conservative.
Ten years ago, we were all doing puppet, chef and what not to customize our deployment infrastructure to run our software. That's not a common thing anymore for a lot of teams and I have not had to do stuff like that for quite some time. A lot of that work btw. involved working around packaging issues and distribution specific or distribution version specific issues.
I remember looking at the puppet package for installing ntp once and being horrified at the hundred lines of code needed to run something like that because of all the differences between platforms. Also such simple things like going from one centos version to the next was a non trivial issue because of all the automation dependencies on stuff that changed in some way (I remember doing the v5 to v6 at some point). Dealing with madness like that is a PITA I don't miss at all.
There's definitely some value in having something that is inert and unchanging for some companies that run software for longer times. Pretty much all the solutions I mentioned have LTS channels. E.g. If you want java 6 or 7 support, you can still get that. And practically speaking, when that support runs out I don't see how Debian would be in any way positioned to provide that in a meaningful way. The type of company caring about such things would likely not be running Debian but some version of Red Hat or something similarly conservative.