Linux distribution

Ubuntu, one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions

A Linux distribution[a] (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro, if distributed on its own, is often obtained via a website intended specifically for the purpose. Distros have been designed for a wide variety of systems ranging from personal computers (for example, Linux Mint) to servers (for example, Red Hat Enterprise Linux) and from 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 package manager, an init system (such as systemd, OpenRC, or runit), GNU tools and libraries, documentation, IP network configuration utilities, the getty TTY setup program, and many more. 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 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 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.