Standard Distributions With Good Bioinformatics Support
In general, Linux distributions have a wide range of official packages available, but this does not usually include much in the way of scientific support. There are exceptions, such as those detailed below.
- Gentoo Linux
Gentoo Linux provides over 50 bioinformatics applications (see packages.gentoo.org and Gentoo Science Overlay) in the form of ebuilds, which build the applications from source code.
Although a very flexible system with excellent community support, the requirement to install from source means that Gentoo systems are often slow to install, and require considerable maintenance. It is possible to reduce some of the compilation time by using a central server to generate binary packages.
- FreeBSD
FreeBSD is not a Linux distribution, but as it is a version of Unix it is very similar. Its ports are like Gentoo's ebuilds, and the same caveats apply. However, there are also pre-complied binary packages available. There are over 60 biological sciences applications, and they're listed on the Fresh Ports site.
- Debian
There are more than a hundred bioinformatics packages provided as part of the standard Debian installation. NEBC Bio-Linux packages can also be installed on a standard Debian system as long as the bio-linux-base package is also installed. This creates a /usr/local/bioinf directory where our other packages install their software. Debian packages may also work on Ubuntu Linux or other Debian-derived installations.
Read more about this topic: Bio Linux
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