Hello everyone!

I have two questions I hope someone could help me out with.

1. What are Linux Distributions or Distros?
2. How many distros are out there?

Best regards,
Alexander

1-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution explains
2-https://distrowatch.com/ indicates more than 100. An exact answer likely does not exist. Whether currently supported or not would muddy the question.

bonus: Google/Startpage/DuckDuckGo are your friends.

2 members found this post helpful.

Hi!

Thank you Mrmazda for your swift answer!

Much appreciated!

One problem with distro counting is that they come and go. If you have the necessary experience, it's not too difficult to create a distro by adapting an existing one to do things the way you think they ought to have been done. The problem comes when you try to produce version 2, and as fast as you squash one bug, another pops up. Often, version 2 never appears. One can make a disto, but it really takes a team to maintain it. If you look at Distrowatch, you can find a huge waiting list of distros that have yet to prove that they can get over that hurdle, and an equally huge list of dormant and discontinued ones that couldn't keep going.

1 members found this post helpful.

Is this just spam for a web hosting site?

Hi Beachboy2!

Not at all!

I have a macro for

/Best regards so and so.

Do you want me to remove the link?

Thanks for your comment David!

Yes I was reading up on the distrowatch.

I feel like I have to read a lot more about it

One more question when I got your guys attention..

Whom are actually approving distros?

Please do, and note the following:

1 members found this post helpful.

Yes please.
Nobody.
It's total anarchy.

As ondoho said no one approves distros, as evident with Hannah Montana Linux etc... On Distrowatch I suppose Jesse decides if a distro is listed or not.

Linux is just the kernel, the Linux Foundation writes the upstream Linux kernel. Linux distributions use the upstream Linux kernel and make their own modifications to it, like adding patches, enabling/disabling kernel "features", etc. Hence, the Linux Foundation has nothing to do with the various Linux distributions on offer, other than providing the upstream kernel - the distributions have their own developers that maintain said distribution. In other words; if it isn't a operating system built around the Linux kernel, it's not a Linux distribution. So while OpenBSD, FreeBSD, etc are Unix-like operating systems, they are not Linux distributions because they do not use the Linux kernel as their OS kernel. But like OpenBSD, FreeBSD, etc, each Linux distribution has it's own team of developers, as much as the Linux Foundation has it's own team of kernel developers that focus on just the kernel.

While the kernel is the most important part of a modern operating system, and while this is true for any modern operating system, by itself it would be a bit like just having someones brain and nothing else. Well you might be able to study how it works, but it isn't going to be of much use to you by itself. So you need other bits and pieces, like OS shells, etc to go with it for it to be of any practical use, aka, for it to do anything useful; like allow you to run application software so you can play your games, narcissistically rant on Facebook, Twitter, listen to music, watch your porno's, whatever else you want to do.

[QUOTE=ChuangTzu;6055339On Distrowatch I suppose Jesse decides if a distro is listed or not.[/QUOTE]
There are rules, of a sort
https://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.ph...q#distrostatus
But it can get a bit strange. Salix is Slackware with additions. It has been downgraded to dormant status because it hasn't had a stable release in two years. That's because the last stable release of Slackware appeared over two years ago. So why is Slackware not listed as dormant? Is it because Jesse has taken Slackware Current as a stable release? Or is it because he can't face the flame ware that would erupt if he declared Slackware dormant? Of course neither is dormant in any meaningful sense, but it does show how confusing things can get!

Strange indeed. I suppose -current shows that behind the scenes Slackware is active. What makes it confusing for Salix is Slackel is the -current version of Salix, yet it's considered its own distro on distrowatch.

Distrowatch.com does not "approve" anything, except what shows up on their website.