What is the differences betweens Linux distributions - not specifics but logical. I purchased software that only runs on Red Hat and another one. Why would software not run on any Linux distribution? I am thinking about building a Linux box from the "roll your own" category and wondering that when I do so will only a selected subset of software will run on it. This is becoming like a Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP mess . . . Jdr

In fact there is a difference only in the choice of programs that come with a distro. They have also different installation programs and configuration utilities.
You can always "produce" the same configuration yourself. There might be a problem only with those programs that want specific version of a specific library. But it can be done.
Oh, and there is sometimes problem with drivers that is provided for specific distro version (it means they are provided for specific kernel compilation).
Different distros use different packaging methods, but there are utilities like alien that can conver between rpm and dev etc.

Thanks, Mara. This does shed some light on why so many distributions . . . Jdr

there are 2 major streams in linuxland
1: BSD Styled (slackware,debian)
2: SysV (suse, rh, mdk etc)

the difference is the way where files will be stored
also some distro's have other differences. FI: Suse likes to store things in the OPT dir.. while RH stores more in /usr dirs

other difference might be the kernel. RH. mdk and other distro's patch the original kernel... and BSD styles distro's don't (I cant name one BSD styled distro that does)

and for the rest it's indeed software and configuration differences
(new RH distro's use Xinetd daemon and others use Inetd.)

KayJay, thanks for the additional information. You said that the SysV type patch the kernal and the BSD styled did not. Does this mean that the base version of the kernal has patches applied, on top of each other, until the next base version is complete - and the BSD style create "new" kernals each time? . . . Jdr

no not really..
it's just known that a few SysV distro's . specially RH and MDK patch the base kernel ..to get more userfriendly things.. sometimes the patches are good... sometimes they are bad. it's not something u will always see back in the next source of the standard kernel... it's just a distro's own.
BSD styled distro's are more into performance and stability...for like I said Slackware and debian are good examples of that