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Linux distribution

Ubuntu, one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions

A Linux distribution[a] (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and often a package management system. They are often obtained from the website of each distribution, which are available for a wide variety of systems ranging from embedded devices (for example, OpenWrt) and personal computers (for example, Linux Mint) to servers (for example, Red Hat Enterprise Linux) and powerful supercomputers (for example, Rocks Cluster Distribution).

A typical Linux distribution comprises a Linux kernel, an init system (such as systemd, OpenRC, or runit), GNU tools and libraries, documentation, and many other types of software (such as IP network configuration utilities and the getty TTY setup program, among others). Optionally, to provide a desktop experience (most commonly the Mesa userspace graphics drivers) a display server (the most common being the X.org Server, or, more recently, 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 with the distribution or are installable by the user.

Most of the included software is free and open-source software made available both as compiled binaries and in source code form, allowing modifications to the original software. Usually, Linux distributions optionally include some proprietary software that may not be available in source code form, such as binary blobs required for some device drivers.[1]

A Linux distribution may also 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 many 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 desktops, servers, laptops, netbooks, mobile devices (phones and tablets),[5][6] and embedded systems.[7][8] There are commercially backed distributions, such as Fedora Linux (Red Hat), openSUSE (SUSE) and Ubuntu (Canonical Ltd.), and entirely community-driven distributions, such as Debian, Slackware, Gentoo and Arch Linux. Most distributions come ready-to-use and prebuilt for a specific instruction set, while some (such as Gentoo) are distributed mostly in source code form and must be built before installation.[9]


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  1. ^ "Explaining Why We Don't Endorse Other Systems". gnu.org. June 30, 2014. Archived from the original on April 24, 2011. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  2. ^ "Linux Operating Systems: Distributions". swift.siphos.be. November 27, 2014. Archived from the original on October 3, 2018. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  3. ^ Chris Hoffman (June 27, 2012). "HTG Explains: How Software Installation & Package Managers Work On Linux". howtogeek.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  4. ^ "The status of CentOS mirrors". centos.org. January 15, 2015. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  5. ^ Jim Martin. "How to install Ubuntu Touch on your Android phone or tablet". PC Advisor. Archived from the original on October 27, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  6. ^ David Hayward. "Install Linux on your x86 tablet: five distros to choose from". TechRadar. Archived from the original on April 13, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  7. ^ Brian Proffitt (February 3, 2010). "The Top 7 Best Linux Distributions for You". linux.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  8. ^ Eric Brown (November 4, 2014). "Mobile Linux Distros Keep on Morphing". linux.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  9. ^ "Debian and Other Distros". debian.org. December 7, 2013. Archived from the original on January 14, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2015.

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