I’m a Linux user in South France. I’ve been using OwnCloud for the past two years, and I want to make the move to NextCloud. I’m currently reading the documentation, and I’m wondering about a detail. One of the recommended systems is RHEL 7, which is a good thing, since I’m normally using the free (as in beer) clone CentOS 7. On the other hand, the docs recommend PHP 7.0. Unfortunately, RHEL/CentOS 7 defaults to PHP 5.4.16. I know there are some third-party repos out there offering PHP 7.0, but I don’t want to taint my system with stuff that’s not officially supported.
I couldn’t tell you about how well Nextcloud works with PHP 5.4.16, but if you want a reliable OS with an up-to-date version of PHP, look at Debian 9 Stretch. It has PHP 7 and other modern versions of software compared to CentOS. On top of that, it is free as in free beer and free as in freedom that’s my personal recommendation.
Well, well, apparently you missed to have a view on Debian Long Term Support as they explicitly mention support until June 2022 for Debian 9 Stretch. BTW Buster is the development codename for Debian 10 and Bullseye is the development codename for Debian 11.
No, I did not miss out on Debian LTS. The project has been created by fellow Eyrolles author Raphael Hertzog, and I’m following its progress regularly on his blog. As I stated above, I have a few good reasons to prefer CentOS over Debian (When I’m not using CentOS, I actually prefer Slackware). As for the link you posted in the second paragraph, this sort of question comes out regularly in the forums. Updates are moved to the CR repos while the new installations are created. Of course, there’s always the odd newcomer crying havoc and predicting that the end of CentOS is nigh.
that’s my personal recommendation.