Debian

Debian is a free operating system. Debian works exceptionally well as a server; Debian GNU/Linux is the operating system underneath nethack.alt.org. Debian also powers some desktops, though many users have Ubuntu, a variant of Debian that makes frequent releases of the most important software.

http://www.debian.org/

Debian GNU/Linux is exceptional because it supports 11 processor architectures and has more than 18 thousand packages. No other distribution of GNU and Linux is more comprehensive; perhaps only NetBSD can claim to support more processor architectures than Debian.

Debian also does a great job of providing current versions of packages (in the "unstable" repository, because Debian sometimes waits almost three years between releases). This is not an issue with NetHack, because 3.4.3 has been current for a very long time. However, Debian "unstable" already contains version 0.0.7E7F3 of SLASH'EM.

The Debian NetHack package is maintained by Joshua "joshk" Kwan.

Perhaps a fortune cookie could read:

They say that Debian and Gentoo are the best at providing current versions of packages.

They have Debian GNU/kFreeBSD and Debian GNU/Hurd too.

Patches

The Debian NetHack package has around 25 patches that provide features ranging from simple UI enhancements and bug fixes to changes that affect the game play. Some of the larger patches include hpmon, menucolors, sortloot, dump and a modifed version of paranoid

The 95_enh_engulf_prayers.dpatch patch makes being engulfed a major trouble, so that a successful prayer while engulfed will get you expelled and cause the engulfing monster to flee.

Messages

The patches applied to the Debian version of NetHack include these messages:

You hear a <growl_sound> of divine fear!

You are engulfed in an animal, have successfully prayed and are about to get expelled. The <growl_sound> refers to whatever sound that monster makes when it growls.

You feel a strange distortion in your surroundings!

You are engulfed in something other than an animal, have successfully prayed and are about to get expelled.

<monster> looks rather nauseated.

The animal that had engulfed you is now fleeing.

<monster> looks rather shook up.

The non-animal monster that had engulfed you is now fleeing.