this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2024
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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That's really hard to answer definitively without context. Obvs there's the kernel, but that's similar enough across distros that it's not really a point of contention that I know of. At a guess it might mean the distro it's "based" on, but that in itself could mean a few different things. There's stuff like package management, which you mentioned, and init style. That's where things get complicated.
Like, Mint is based on Ubuntu, which itself is based on Debian. They share DEB / APT for package management and use systemd for init. OTOH, there's stuff like OpenSuse, which is originally based on SlackWare, but uses RPM (like redhat) for package management. OpenSuse uses systemd, but I think RedHat uses upstart and SlackWare uses a BSD-style init. It's been a while since I checked in on those last two.
Of course they could also mean something like choice of desktop environment (as in "A Gnome-based distribution"), default package selection (what the installer refers to as a "base" install). They could mean the general philosophy or release schedule (rolling vs. point release). Or they could even be referring to the userbase (as in; "I use Arch, btw").