Linux distribution: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:48, 11 April 2025

Revision as of 13:49, 14 April 2025

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{{Use American English|date=March 2023}}

[[File:Ubuntu_24.10_Oracular_Oriole_Desktop_English.png|thumb|[[Ubuntu]], one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions|upright=1.5]]

A '''Linux distribution'''{{efn|Sometimes called a '''GNU/Linux distribution''', with some [[GNU/Linux naming controversy|related controversy]]}}, (often abbreviated as '''distro'''), is an [[operating system]] that includes the [[Linux kernel]] for its [[kernel (operating system)|kernel]] functionality. Although the name does not imply [[distribution (marketing)|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 computer]]s (for example, [[Linux Mint]]) to [[Server (computing)|servers]] (for example, [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]]) and from [[embedded device]]s (for example, [[OpenWrt]]) to [[supercomputer]]s (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|init system]] (such as [[systemd]], [[OpenRC]], or [[runit]]), [[GNU]] tools and [[Library (computing)|libraries]], documentation, [[Internet Protocol|IP]] network configuration utilities, the [[Getty (Unix)|getty]] TTY setup program, and many more. To provide a desktop experience (most commonly the [[Mesa (computer graphics)|Mesa]] userspace graphics drivers) a [[Windowing system|display server]] (the most common being the [[X.org Server]], or, more recently, a [[Wayland (display server protocol)|Wayland]] compositor such as [[Sway (window manager)|Sway]], [[KDE]]'s [[KWin]], or [[GNOME]]'s [[Mutter (software)|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.