Google is adopting Debian as the default operating system (OS) for its Google Compute Engine (GCE), abandoning the previous custom Linux OS, GCEL.
The search engine firm is now advising all developers to deploy Debian images rather than GCEL, which is ‘a Linux distribution through Debian packages found in typical minimal Ubuntu distributions,’ according to a Google FAQ.
Google site reliability engineer and Debian developer Jimmy Kaplowitz said the company is evaluating other operating systems that it can enable with Compute Engine. "However, going forward, Debian will be the default image type for Compute Engine," Kaplowitz said.
"For fast performance and to reduce bandwidth costs, Google is hosting a Debian package mirror for use by Google Compute Engine Debian instances.
"We’ve updated our docs and will support Debian via our usual support options or you can also check out what Debian offers."
Debian, in collaboration with Google, is also offering images for both Debian 7.0 ‘wheezy’ and the earlier release, Debian 6.0 ‘squeeze’, which would facilitate developers to migrate their workloads onto Compute Engine.
Debian OS competes with other Linux-based OS, including Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora.
