Linux distribution

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ubuntu, one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions

A Linux distribution,

embedded devices (for example, OpenWrt) to supercomputers (for example, Rocks Cluster Distribution
).

A distro typically includes many components in addition to the Linux kernel. Commonly, it includes a

Wayland compositor such as Sway, KDE's KWin, or GNOME's Mutter), a desktop environment (most commonly GNOME, KDE Plasma, or Xfce), a sound server (usually either PulseAudio or more recently PipeWire
), and other related programs may be included or installed by the user.

Typically, most of the included software is free and open-source software – made available both as binary for convenience and as source code to allow for modifying it. A distro may also include proprietary software that is not available in source code form, such as a device driver binary.[1]

A distro may be described as a particular assortment of application and utility software (various GNU tools and libraries, for example), packaged with the Linux kernel in such a way that its capabilities meet users' needs.[2] The software is usually adapted to the distribution and then combined into software packages by the distribution's maintainers. The software packages are available online in repositories, which are storage locations usually distributed around the world.[3][4] Beside "glue" components, such as the distribution installers (for example, Debian-Installer and Anaconda) and the package management systems, very few packages are actually written by a distribution's maintainers.

Distributions have been designed for a wide range of computing environments, including

instruction set, while some (such as Gentoo) are distributed mostly in source code form and must be built before installation.[9]

History

5.25-inch floppy disks holding a very early version of Linux
Timeline of Linux distributions
Timeline of the development of main Linux distributions[10]

GNU utilities and tools for setting up a file system. Since the installation procedure was complicated, especially in the face of growing amounts of available software, distributions sprang up to simplify it.[11]

Early distributions included:

The two oldest, still active distribution projects started in 1993. The SLS distribution was not well maintained, so in July 1993 a new SLS-based distribution, Slackware, was released by Patrick Volkerding.[22] Also dissatisfied with SLS, Ian Murdock set to create a free distribution by founding Debian in August 1993, with first public BETA released in January 1994 and first stable version in June 1996.[23][24]

Users were attracted to Linux distributions as alternatives to the

Apple Macintosh, and proprietary versions of Unix. Most early adopters were familiar with Unix from work or school. They embraced Linux distributions for their low (or absent) cost, and the availability of the source code
for most or all of their software.

As of 2024, Linux has become more popular in server and embedded devices markets than in the desktop market. It is used in approximately 58.9% of web servers;[25] its current operating system market share is about 3.67%.[26]

Components

package management system, which puts together the Linux kernel
, free and open-source software, and occasionally some proprietary software.

Many Linux distributions provide an installation system akin to that provided with other modern operating systems. Other distributions, including

architecture
of the user's computer, using these tools and the software's source code.

Package management

See also:
Linux package formats

Distributions are normally segmented into packages. Each package contains a specific application or service. Examples of packages are a library for handling the

PNG image format, a collection of fonts, and a web browser
.

The package is typically provided as compiled code, with installation and removal of packages handled by a

dependencies (other packages it requires to run). The package management system evaluates this meta-information to allow package searches, perform automatic upgrades to newer versions, and to check that all dependencies of a package are present (and either notify the user to install them, or install them automatically). The package can also be provided as source code
to be compiled on the system.

Most distributions install packages, including the kernel and other core operating system components, in a predetermined configuration. A few now require or permit configuration adjustments at first install time. This makes installation less daunting, particularly for new users, but is not always acceptable. For specific requirements, much software must be carefully configured to be useful, to work correctly with other software, or to be secure, and local administrators are often obliged to spend time reviewing and reconfiguring it.

Some (but not all) distributions go to considerable lengths to adjust and customize the software they include, and some provide configuration tools to help users do so.

By obtaining and installing everything normally provided in a distribution, an administrator may create a "distributionless" installation. It is possible to build such systems from scratch, avoiding distributions altogether. One needs a way to generate the first binaries until the system is

cross-compilation). For example, see Linux From Scratch
.

Further information: Linux adoption and Comparison of Linux distributions

In broad terms, Linux distributions may be:

  • Commercial or non-commercial
  • Designed for enterprise users, power users, or for home users
  • Supported on multiple types of hardware, or platform-specific, even to the extent of certification by the platform vendor
  • Designed for servers, desktops, or embedded devices
  • General purpose or highly specialized toward specific machine functionalities (e.g. firewalls, network routers, and computer clusters)
  • Targeted at specific user groups, for example through language
    scientific computing
    packages
  • Built primarily for security, usability, portability, or comprehensiveness
  • Standard release or rolling release, see below.

The diversity of Linux distributions is due to technical, organizational, and philosophical variation among vendors and users. The permissive licensing of free software means that users with sufficient knowledge and interest can customize any existing distribution, or design one to suit their own needs.

Rolling distributions vis-à-vis standard releases

Rolling Linux distributions are kept current using small and frequent updates. The terms partially rolling and partly rolling (along with synonyms semi-rolling and half-rolling), fully rolling, truly rolling and optionally rolling are sometimes used by software developers and users.[27][28][29][30][31][32]

Repositories of rolling distributions usually contain very recent

snapshots of the distribution at the time of the installation image's release. Typically, a rolling-release OS installed from older installation medium can be fully updated after it is installed.[29][33]

Depending on the usage case, there can be pros and cons to both standard release and rolling release

software development methodologies.[34]

In terms of the

development branch
. Also, unlike rolling releases, standard releases require more than one code branch to be developed and maintained, which increases the workload of the software developers and maintainers.

On the other hand, software features and technology planning are easier in standard releases due to a better understanding of upcoming features in the next version(s).

Software release cycles can also be synchronized with those of major upstream software projects, such as desktop environments
.

As for the user experience, standard releases are often viewed as more stable and bug-free since software conflicts can be more easily addressed and the software stack more thoroughly tested and evaluated, during the software development cycle.[34][35] For this reason, they tend to be the preferred choice in enterprise environments and mission-critical tasks.[34]

However, rolling releases offer more current software which can also provide increased stability and fewer software bugs along with the additional benefits of new features, greater functionality, faster running speeds, and improved system and

vulnerabilities, that standard releases may have to wait till the next release for or patch in various versions. In a rolling release distribution, where the user has chosen to run it as a highly dynamic system, the constant flux of software packages can introduce new unintended vulnerabilities.[34]

Installation-free distributions (live CD/USB)

Main articles: Live CD and Live USB

A "live" distribution is a Linux distribution that can be booted from removable storage media such as optical discs or USB flash drives, instead of being installed on and booted from a hard disk drive. The portability of installation-free distributions makes them advantageous for applications such as demonstrations, borrowing someone else's computer, rescue operations, or as installation media for a standard distribution.

When the operating system is booted from a read-only medium such as a CD or DVD, any user data that needs to be retained between sessions cannot be stored on the boot device but must be written to another storage device, such as a USB flash drive or a hard disk drive.[36]

Many Linux distributions provide a "live" form in addition to their conventional form, which is a network-based or removable-media image intended to be used only for installation; such distributions include

SliTaz GNU/Linux and dyne:bolic, are designed primarily for live use. Additionally, some minimal distributions can be run directly from as little space as one floppy disk without the need to change the contents of the system's hard disk drive.[37]

Examples

The website

User Agents of visitors to WMF websites until 2015, which includes details of the most popular Operating System identifiers, including some Linux distributions.[38]
Many of the popular distributions are listed below.

Widely used GNU-based or GNU-compatible distributions

  • Debian, a non-commercial distribution and one of the earliest, maintained by a volunteer developer community with a strong commitment to free software principles and democratic project management.
  • Fedora Linux, a community distribution sponsored by American company Red Hat and the successor to the company's previous offering, Red Hat Linux. It aims to be a technology testbed for Red Hat's commercial Linux offering, where new open-source software is prototyped, developed, and tested in a communal setting before maturing into Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), a derivative of Fedora Linux, maintained and commercially supported by Red Hat. It seeks to provide tested, secure, and stable Linux server and workstation support to businesses.
  • openSUSE, a community distribution mainly sponsored by German company SUSE.
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise
      , derived from openSUSE, maintained and commercially supported by SUSE
  • PKGBUILD
    text file.
    • Manjaro Linux
      , a derivative of Arch Linux that includes a graphical installer and other ease-of-use features for less experienced Linux users.
  • Gentoo, a distribution targeted at power users, known for its FreeBSD Ports-like automated system for compiling applications from source code
  • Alpine Linux, which is popular on servers and uses musl C standard library and BusyBox to provide its userland.
  • Alpine Package Keeper
    (APK) package manager and Dinit init system.

Linux-kernel-based operating systems

Several operating systems include the Linux kernel, but have a userland that differs significantly from that of mainstream Linux distributions:

Whether such operating systems count as a "Linux distribution" is a controversial topic. They use the Linux kernel, so the Linux Foundation[39] and Chris DiBona,[40] Google's former open-source chief, agree that Android is a Linux distribution; others, such as Google engineer Patrick Brady, disagree by noting the lack of support for many GNU tools in Android, including glibc.[41]

Other Linux-kernel-based operating systems include Tizen, Mer/Sailfish OS, KaiOS and Amazon's Kindle firmware.

Lightweight distributions

Main article:
Lightweight Linux distribution

Lightweight Linux distributions are those that have been designed with support for older hardware in mind, allowing older hardware to still be used productively, or, for maximum possible speed in newer hardware by leaving more resources available for use by applications. Examples include

Slitaz
.

Niche distributions

Other distributions target specific niches, such as:

Interdistribution issues

The Free Standards Group was an organization formed by major software and hardware vendors that aims to improve interoperability between different distributions. Among their proposed standards are the Linux Standard Base, which defines a common ABI and packaging system for Linux, and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard which recommends a standard filenaming chart, notably the basic directory names found on the root of the tree of any Linux filesystem. Those standards, however, see limited use, even among the distributions developed by members of the organization.[citation needed]

The diversity of Linux distributions means that not all software runs on all distributions, depending on what libraries and other system attributes are required.

Packaged software and software repositories are usually specific to a particular distribution, though cross-installation is sometimes possible on closely related distributions.[citation needed
]

Installation

There are several ways to install a Linux distribution. The most popular method of installing Linux is by booting from a live

USB memory stick, which can be created by using a USB image writer application and the ISO image, which can be downloaded from various Linux distribution websites. DVD disks, CD disks, network installations and even other hard drives can also be used as "installation media".[43]

In the 1990s, Linux distributions were installed using sets of floppy disks but this has been abandoned by all major distributions. By the 2000s many distributions offered CD and DVD sets with the vital packages on the first disc and less important packages on later ones. Some distributions, such as Debian also enabled installation over a network after booting from either a set of floppy disks or a CD with only a small amount of data on it.[44]

New users tend to begin by partitioning a hard drive in order to keep their previously installed operating system. The Linux distribution can then be installed on its own separate partition without affecting previously saved data.[45]

In a Live CD setup, the computer boots the entire operating system from CD without first installing it on the computer's hard disk. Many distributions have a Live CD installer, where the computer boots the operating system from the disk, and it can then be installed on the computer's hard disk, providing a seamless transition from the OS running from the CD to the OS running from the hard disk.

Both servers and personal computers that come with Linux already installed are available from vendors including Hewlett-Packard, Dell and System76.

On embedded devices, Linux is typically held in the device's firmware and may or may not be consumer-accessible.

Fedora (which uses the Fedora Media Writer) and other distributions to simplify the installation process. Debian, Ubuntu and many others use Debian-Installer
.

The process of constantly switching between distributions is often referred to as "distro hopping".[46][47] Virtual machine software such as VirtualBox and VMware Workstation virtualize hardware allowing users to test live media on a virtual machine without installing to the real system. Some websites like DistroWatch offer lists of distributions, and link to screenshots of operating systems as a way to get a first impression of various distributions.

Installation via an existing operating system

Some distributions let the user install Linux on top of their current system, such as WinLinux or coLinux. Linux is installed to the Windows hard disk partition, and can be started from inside Windows itself.

Virtual machines (such as VirtualBox or VMware) also make it possible for Linux to be run inside another OS. The VM software simulates a separate computer onto which the Linux system is installed. After installation, the virtual machine can be booted as if it were an independent computer.

Various tools are also available to perform full

dual-boot
installations from existing platforms without a CD, most notably:

  • The (now deprecated)
    Ubuntu or its derivatives into a FAT32 or an NTFS partition without an installation CD, allowing users to easily dual boot between either operating system on the same hard drive without losing data. Replaced by Ubiquity
    .
  • Win32-loader, which is in the process of being integrated in official Debian CDs/DVDs, and allows Windows users to install Debian without a CD, though it performs a network installation and thereby requires repartitioning[48]
  • UNetbootin, which allows Windows and Linux users to perform similar no-CD network installations for a wide variety of Linux distributions and additionally provides live USB creation support

Proprietary software

Some specific proprietary software products are not available in any form for Linux. As of September 2015, the

Win32 or DirectX APIs) into native Linux API calls. A virtual machine
can also be used to run a proprietary OS (like Microsoft Windows) on top of Linux.

OEM contracts

Computer hardware is usually sold with an operating system other than Linux already installed by the

Solaris installed; video game consoles such as the Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, and the Nintendo Switch
each have their own proprietary OS. This limits Linux's market share: consumers are unaware that an alternative exists, they must make a conscious effort to use a different operating system, and they must either perform the actual installation themselves, or depend on support from a friend, relative, or computer professional.

However, it is possible to buy hardware with Linux already installed. Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Affordy,[51] Purism, Pine64 and System76 all sell general-purpose Linux laptops.[52] Custom-order PC manufacturers will also build Linux systems, but possibly with the Windows key on the keyboard. Fixstars Solutions (formerly Terra Soft) sells Macintosh computers and PlayStation 3 consoles with Yellow Dog Linux installed.

It is more common to find embedded devices sold with Linux as the default manufacturer-supported OS, including the Linksys NSLU2 NAS device, TiVo's line of personal video recorders, and Linux-based cellphones (including Android smartphones), PDAs, and portable music players.

The current Microsoft Windows license lets the manufacturer determine the refund policy.

DGCCRF branch of the French government filing several complaints against bundled software. On March 24, 2014, a new international petition was launched by AFUL on the Avaaz platform,[57]
translated into several languages and supported by many organizations around the world.

Statistics

There are no official figures on the popularity, adoption, downloads or installed base of Linux distributions.

There are also no official figures for the total number of Linux systems,

free of charge.[58][60] A Linux Counter Project had kept track of a running guesstimate of the number of Linux systems, but did not distinguish between rolling release and standard release distributions. It ceased operation in August 2018, though a few related blog posts were created through October 2018.[61]

Desktop usage statistical reports for particular Linux distributions have been collected and published since July 2014[62] by the Linux Hardware Project.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Sometimes called a GNU/Linux distribution, with some related controversy

References

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