My priorities:

• Secure. Unlike popular belief, the fact that the worlds infrastructure basically runs on Linux does not imply that your average Desktop Linux distro enjoys the same level of scrutiny when it comes to its security. Hence, the security-conscious should carefully pick a distro that can handle their threat model. Or, at least harden it to their liking.
• Stateless. Conventionally, you will be met with a (relatively) minimal system after installation. After which you're expected to configure it to your liking and go smooth sailing afterwards. Occasionally, you might (un)install stuff and/or modify settings; but nothing out of the ordinary, really. While applying some of these changes might seem trivial, they (kinda) lead your system to accumulate cruft. This cruft might seem innocuous, but it's exactly why your system seems so fresh after a reinstall. Foregoing this altogether is referred to as going stateless. This is done by declaring a desired state and 'flushing' all changes that have not been declared. Many other benefits are associated with this, but I digress...

The above^[So, without even going into release cadence etc.] already dictates the use of NixOS with the impermanence and nix-mineral modules.

idk bro I've been running the same arch install for the last 6 years and I will run it for the next 5 as well.

NixOS. I came a long way and it combines the best of modular, customizable and immutable.

Depends on what I'm doing.

Workstation or server will be Debian. Personal devices are either Debian or Arch.

I'd prioritize Debian if I could only pick one for all options.

Been using Debian stable since Hans reiser got locked up.

It’s fine and it will continue to be fine.

I asked myself this exact question back in 2020 and chose Arch. At the time I had been using Fedora since 2017. What I ultimately wanted was a system I could install once and continually evolve rather than replace. Several years on, I’m still running that same installation and it has never given me a reason to reconsider....

No Tumbleweed fans? :/

They (openSUSE) make a lot of default decisions for you, but it's really close to 0 maintenance if you lack the time (or just cannot even for months at a time) & still a rolling release, zypper, etc.

If I had to limit myself to one distro for all tasks, can't go wrong with Debian.

Mint. It just works.

Want to live on the wild side? Use the Debian based version.

Gentoo <3

For a headless server: Ubuntu. Solid, reliable and stable for many years.

For gaming: Pop OS looks promising now that cosmic has been released, however I’d probably stick with Fedora as it’s leading edge and has served me well so far.

Arch. Been 13 years on it. Aur and Wiki are the best resources any Linux distro have.

Debian is kind of too big to fail. Maybe NixOS if you want something that will almost certainly gain popularity in the future.

Don't think though that distros are the layer which you want to look at. Lots of stuff happens at the level of DEs, drivers and individual apps, which sure is preconditioned by the distro you choose but at the same time not that strict of a thing. You can get anything working provided you have the time.

x11 is still in its last round before retirement it seems, using Wayland is going to future proof what you've got majorly.

My 2c. Feel free to critique.

After 20 years of Gentoo, I don't see myself switching in the next five. Comfortable, capable, flexible.

Well, I've been using Ubuntu for the last 20 years (god, it hurts to say that) and only started playing with NixOS, 3 years ago.

Between the two I like NixOS better, but if I had to choose only one it would probably be Ubuntu. When things break, I know how to fix it. Usually without having to spend 2 hours of reading and trying to understand the documentation.

I've been daily driving Debian Stable for the past 5 years and I am more than happy to continue for the next five. It's also on nearly all of my machines and the majority of my VMs.

I'm honestly not very keen on the latest features or hardware, but I am very keen on my software being predictable and consistent, so the Debian release cycle is perfect for me.

Debian. The answer is always Debian.

The one I've been using for the last 17 years, Gentoo

If I had to pick one, Arch. I already use it a lot, so it's familiar. I know my way around the package manager and how to create packages, so even when things aren't available for Arch out of the box, I can make it work.

It'd be kind of a hassle trying to keep anywhere close to 100% server uptime, but for my own personal stuff that shouldn't be that big of an issue, as I can fix it when I have the time.

For desktop, I basically can't do stable release. I frequently mess with new projects requiring the latest versions of everything, which is a near impossible task on stable-release distros.

Debian or ubuntu on my server/docker image. Maybe alpine for docker.

EndeavourOS on my desktop/laptop.

I would go with (semi)rolling, either openSUSE Tumbleweed/Slowroll or Fedora. I prioritize fast updating distros because they are better for security (many vulnerabilities go unnoticed because the full scope isnt understood and they are deemed normal bugs), and (unlike Windows) updates on Linux are a good thing, bring new features, crash/bug fixes, and optimizations.

Fedora is very popular, has wide software support, and is very stable. openSUSE is also still pretty popular, (even its rolling edition) is quite stable as well, has good software support, and YaST allows you to do graphical administration on your system. Both take security seriously and use SELinux for security policies.

If you care about security, use Brace for automatic system hardening. It has been developed for years by the former DivestOS dev Tavi, supporting many distros.

For my desktop: openSUSE Tumbleweed/Slowroll. I like to keep my desktop as up-to-date as possible, and openSUSE is pretty good. Sure, there's the occasional udev update that breaks inputs in the desktop environment, but that's the other side of the coin.

For my laptop and other uses: Debian. The old reliable doesn't mind if I don't update as often, and unlike rolling releases, updates aren't wont to break anything. In a pinch I could use it on the desktop too.

Ubuntu and essentially every other answer is wrong.

if I had to bet on one distro for the next 5 years and I had to stay on it, it would be Ubuntu.

I run Arch right now but I would never bet on Arch.

Familiar

So, mint with cinnamon

I am using Fedora Server edition on my home server and EndeavourOS on my main. I see no reason to change that.

If I had to choose only one I would go with stable first.

Debian stable. It just works.

Debian testing, then upgrade it as they make major releases. I have yet to have a single Debian upgrade go wrong on Desktop or Server. It is basically magic.

I've tried just about every distro over the past decade, and I always come back to Ubuntu. It commands the largest share of the Linux market by a large margin, especially when you consider its derivative distributions like Mint and PopOS. It also has excellent support from hardware vendors, specifically NVIDIA in my case.

I run multiple servers all Debian desktop is Cachy becasue Endeavour broke.

Looking forward to cachy server.

But i think for servers a little more reservation is required.

I used Manjaro for the last 5 years, and it still works as it did on the first day, so I'd chose it for the 5 coming years. I know the cool kids hate it, but in my case it's the right spot.

Last year I would have said Arch. I have been running it for over 15 years with some small breaks to try stuff, or with some machines that have company issued OS. But I have been toying with NixOS, and honestly I'm loving it. If I had to choose only one and couldn't change it it would have to be Arch, I know I can get 5 years with it easily, but if I was setting a new system today it would almost assuredly be NixOS, I might regret that 3 years down the line when there's something I can't get to work, but the more I play around, the less likely I think that would be, and the more comfortable I feel that I will eventually migrate to NixOS fulltime

Arch and I love socks

Fedora. It's so easy to use and so stable. Unfortunately my bleeding-edge NVIDIA graphics card does not play nice with it, so I have been stuck with arch.

Omnissiah willing, Bazzite.

Reproducibility. If I'm spending months configuring my setup then I want it to stay exactly the same and easily rebuildable even if I switch/upgrade my computer. NixOS is the only answer.

I’ve been on Linux for 14 years now and all the projects I’ve used as my daily driver are still kicking and doing great. Arch, Fedora, Debian, and NixOS. I’m on nix and I’d happily stay here ten more years if the governance stuff settles down, that concerns me. But from a technical and package availability perspective it’s amazing