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Comparison of Linux distributions

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jdc1197 (talk | contribs) at 14:08, 10 April 2014 (→General: Added version number and citation). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Technical variations of Linux distributions (called GNU/Linux by members of the the free software movement) include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, including how quickly security upgrades are available; ease of package management; and number of packages available.

These tables compare each noteworthy distribution's latest stable release on wide-ranging objective criteria. It does not cover each operating system's subjective merits, branches marked as unstable or beta, nor compare Linux distributions with other operating systems.

General

Basic general information about the distributions: creator or producer, release date, latest version, and such.

Distribution Founder Maintainer Initial public release Current stable version: Release date Composed entirely of free software Base distribution Purpose Free of charge
aLinux Jay Klepacs Jay Klepacs 2001 ? ? No Red Hat Linux desktop Yes
Alpine Linux Alpine Linux Team Alpine Linux Team 2006 ? ? No none network Yes
ALT Linux ALT Linux Team ALT Linux Team, ALT Linux LLC 2001 ? ? No Mandriva Linux general, school Yes
antiX Anticapitalista Anticapitalista 2007 ? ? No Debian - MEPIS old computers Yes
ArchBang Stan McLaren 2010 ? ? No Arch Linux general Yes
Arch Linux Judd Vinet dev team 2002 ? ? No none general Yes
BackTrack Max Moser, Mati Aharoni, Martin J. Muench Remote-Exploit 2006 ? ? No Debian auditing, forensic, security, network Yes
BLAG Linux and GNU Brixton Linux Action Group Brixton Linux Action Group 2002 140k 2011-05-04 Yes Fedora desktop, free software Yes
Bharat Operating System Solutions Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) C-DAC 2007 ? ? No Debian general, server, education, netbooks, live Yes
Bodhi Linux Bodhi Linux Team Bodhi Linux Team 2011 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu desktop Yes
Caixa Mágica Daniel Neves, José Guimarães, Paulo Trezentos Caixa Mágica Software 2000 ? ? No Debian general Yes
CentOS CentOS Project CentOS Project 2003 ? ? No Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server, workstation Yes
Chakra Jan Mette and Arch Linux KDEmod developers The Chakra Project Team 2010 ? ? No none (originally forked from Arch Linux)[citation needed] desktop Yes
Google Chrome OS Google Google 2009 ? ? No Gentoo[1] netbooks ?
ClearOS Peter Baldwin ClearFoundation 2000 ? ? No RHEL, CentOS server, gateway, network Yes
ConnochaetOS (formerly DeLi Linux) Henry Jensen Henry Jensen 2004 0.8.0 2008-05-28 Yes none old computer, desktop, free software Yes
CrunchBang Linux Philip Newborough Philip Newborough 2008 ? ? No Debian desktop Yes
CRUX Per Liden CRUX Linux community 2001 ? ? No none general Yes
Damn Small Linux John Andrews dev team 2003 4.4.10 [2] ? No Debian, Knoppix portable, lightweight Yes
Debian Ian Murdock Debian Project 1993 ? ? No none general Yes
DidJiX lacsaP lacsaP 2011 ? ? No Arch Linux portable, dj Yes
Dragora GNU/Linux Matias A. Fonzo Matias A. Fonzo 2009 2.2 2012-04-21 Yes None Simplicity Yes
Dyne:bolic Jaromil Jaromil 2005 3.0.0 2011-09-08 Yes Debian[3] Digital audio workstation (DAW) and video editing Yes
EasyPeasy Jon Ramvi, EasyPeasy community Jon Ramvi, EasyPeasy community 2008 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu netbooks Yes
Elementary OS Daniel Foré Elementary 2011 ? ? No Ubuntu general Yes
ELinOS SYSGO SYSGO 1999 ? ? No none embedded systems ?
Elive Thanatermesis Thanatermesis 2005 ? ? No Debian desktop Yes
Emdebian Grip Embedded Debian Project Embedded Debian Project 2009[4] ? ? No Debian embedded systems Yes
ESSPEE ESSPEE Project Sourceforge.net 2012 ? ? No Ubuntu Penetration Testing, Forensics, Security Yes
Fedora Fedora Project Fedora Project 2003 ? ? No none general Yes
Finnix Ryan Finnie Ryan Finnie 2000 ? ? No Debian maintenance Yes
Foresight Linux Ken VanDine dev team 2004 ? ? No rPath general Yes
Freespire Lindows.com, Inc. Linspire, Inc. 2002 ? ? No Debian desktop Yes
Frugalware Miklos Vajna dev team 2004 ? ? No Slackware general Yes
Gentoo Linux Daniel Robbins Gentoo Foundation, Inc. 2002 ? ? No none general Yes
gNewSense Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley Sam Geeraerts with sponsorship from the FSF 2006 3.1 (Parkes) 2014-02-09 Yes Debian (formerly Ubuntu)[5] desktop, free software Yes
Gnoppix Klaus Knopper dev team 2005 ? ? No Debian, Knoppix live Yes
gnuLinEx Regional Government of Extremadura dev team 2002 ? ? No Debian desktop ?
gOS Good OS LLC Good OS LLC 2007 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu desktop Yes
Grml Michael Prokop The Grml Team 2005 ? ? No Debian live, maintenance, security, network, forensic, accessibility Yes
Instant WebKiosk Marco Buratto Binary Emotions 2012 ? ? No Debian web kiosks, digital signage, personal web navigation ?
Kali Linux Max Moser, Mati Aharoni, Martin J. Muench Remote-Exploit 2013 ? ? No Debian auditing, forensic, security, network Yes
Kanotix Jörg Schirottke (Kano) dev team 2003 ? ? No Debian, Knoppix desktop, live Yes
Knoppix Klaus Knopper dev team 2003 ? ? No Debian live Yes
KnoppMyth Cecil Watson dev team 2004 ? ? No Debian, Knoppix desktop, live Yes
Kuki Linux João Ferro kuki bakers 2008 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu netbooks Yes
Linux Mint Clement Lefebvre dev team 2006 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu desktop Yes
Lunar Linux Chuck Mead, Lunar Penguin Project Foo-Projects.org 2002 ? ? No Sorcerer general ?
Mageia Mageia Community mageia.org 2010 ? ? No Mandriva Linux general Yes
Mandriva Linux Mandrakesoft S.A. Mandriva S.A. 1998 ? ? No Red Hat Linux general ?
MEPIS Warren Woodford MEPIS LLC 2003 ? ? No Debian desktop, server Yes
MintPPC Jeroen Diederen Jeroen Diederen 2010 ? ? No Debian desktop ?
MontaVista Linux MontaVista Software MontaVista Software 1999 ? ? No Debian embedded systems No
Musix GNU/Linux Musix team Musix team 2008 3.0 2014-01-14 Yes Knoppix Music production, graphic design, audio, and video editing Yes
Netrunner Blue Systems dev team 2009 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu, Kubuntu desktop, kde Yes
Network Security Toolkit Ronald W. Henderson, Paul Blankenbaker dev team 2003 ? ? No Fedora network, security ?
Novell Open Enterprise Server Novell Novell, Inc. dev team 2003 ? ? No SUSE Linux Enterprise Server server No
OpenELEC Stephan Raue, OpenELEC Team OpenELEC Team 2011 ? ? No none multimedia Yes
openSUSE SUSE Linux, Novell openSUSE Project 2006 ? ? No none general Yes
OpenWrt ? OpenWrt team 2007 ? ? No none embedded systems ?
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre Parabola Hackers development team Parabola Hackers development team 2009 2013.09.01 2013-09-01 Yes Arch Linux Simplicity Yes
Oracle Linux Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation 2006 ? ? No Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server Yes
Pardus Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) TÜBİTAK 2005 ? ? No none general Yes
Parsix Alan Baghumian Parsix Project 2005 ? ? No Debian desktop Yes
PCLinuxOS Bill Reynolds dev team 2003 ? ? No PCLinuxOS desktop Yes
Pentoo Michael Zanetta, Rick Farina, Jens Pranaitis Pentoo 2005 ? ? No Gentoo Linux auditing, security ?
Porteus Fanthom Porteus 2010 ? ? No Slackware lightweight, portable Yes
Puppy Linux Barry Kauler Puppy Foundation 2003 ? ? No none portable, lightweight Yes
Qubes OS Joanna Rutkowska Invisible Things Lab 2012 ? ? No Xen and Fedora secured desktop Yes
Red Flag Linux Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, NewMargin Venture Capital Red Flag Software Co., Ltd. 1999 ? ? No Red Hat Linux general Yes
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Red Hat Red Hat 2002 ? ? No Red Hat Linux, Fedora server, workstation No
Red Hat Linux Red Hat Red Hat 1995 ? ? No none server, workstation Yes
Rocks Cluster Distribution UCSD Supercomputing Center, Clustercorp UCSD Supercomputing Center, Clustercorp 2000 ? ? No Red Hat Linux server, workstation ?
Rxart Pixart SRL Pixart SRL 2000 ? ? No Debian general ?
Sabayon Linux lxnay Design dev team 2005 ? ? No Gentoo Linux general Yes
Scientific Linux CERN, Fermilab dev team 2004 ? ? No Red Hat Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) server, workstation Yes
SHR Bobby Martin SHR community 2008 ? ? No OpenEmbedded embedded systems ?
aptosid sidux team sidux team 2007 ? ? No Debian Sid desktop Yes
Salix OS Cyrille Pontvieux, George Vlahavas, Pierrick Le Brun, Thorsten Mühlfelder Salix team 2009 ? ? No Slackware general Yes
Slackware Patrick Volkerding dev team 1993 ? ? No Softlanding Linux System general Yes
Slax Tomas Matejicek Tomas Matejicek 2002 ? ? No Slackware live Yes
SliTaz GNU/Linux Christophe Lincoln dev team 2008 ? ? No none portable Yes
SolydXK Arjen Balfoort dev team 2013 ? ? No Debian desktop Yes
Source Mage GNU/Linux Ryan Abrams, Eric Schabell dev team 2002 ? ? No Sorcerer general ?
Super OS hacktolive hacktolive 2008 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu general, offline use ?
SUSE Linux SUSE Linux, Novell Novell, Inc. dev team 1994 ? ? No Slackware, Jurix workstation, server Yes
Tiny Core Linux Robert Shingledecker Team Tiny Core 2009 ? ? No Tiny Core Linux portable Yes
Tor-ramdisk Anthony G. Basile dev team 2008 ? ? No Gentoo Linux Embedded, uClibc[6] Tor server ?
Trisquel Rubén Rodríguez Pérez (quidam) Rubén Rodríguez Pérez (quidam) 2005 6.0.1[7] 2014-04-01 Yes Ubuntu LTS desktop, free software Yes
Trustix Comodo Group, Inc. Comodo Group, Inc. 2000 ? ? No Red Hat Linux server ?
Ubuntu Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. 2004 ? ? No Debian general Yes
Ubuntu GNOME Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. 2012 ? ? No Debian desktop Yes
Kubuntu Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. 2005 ? ? No Debian desktop Yes
Xubuntu Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. 2006 ? ? No Debian desktop Yes
Edubuntu Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. 2005 ? ? No Debian computer lab Yes
Gobuntu Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. 2007 ? ? No Debian desktop ?
Ubuntu Studio Canonical Ltd. Canonical Ltd. 2007 ? ? No Debian multimedia Yes
Univention Corporate Server Univention GmbH Univention GmbH 2004 ? ? No Debian (small business) server ?
Ututo Diego Saravia, Daniel Olivera UTUTO dev team 2000 XS 2012 2012-04-27 Yes Gentoo Linux general, free software Yes
VectorLinux Robert S. Lange dev team 1999 ? ? No Slackware desktop ?
Webconverger Kai Hendry Webconverger Limited 2007 ? ? No Debian Kiosk software, digital signage Yes
XBMC The XBMC Project Team-XBMC 2008 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu multimedia Yes
Yellow Dog Linux Terra Soft Solutions Fixstars Solutions 1999 ? ? No RHEL, CentOS, Fedora general Yes
Zentyal eBox Technologies eBox Technologies 2005 ? ? No Debian, Ubuntu Small Business Server ?
Zenwalk Jean-Philippe Guillemin dev team 2004 ? ? No Slackware general ?
Distribution Founder Maintainer Initial public release Current stable version: Release date Composed entirely of free software Base distribution Purpose Free of charge

Cost

The majority of Linux distributions are available without cost.

The following distributions are in several editions, some that cost money and some that do not: ClearOS, Mandriva Linux, MEPIS, Red Flag Linux, Univention Corporate Server and Zentyal.

The following distributions cost money: Novell Open Enterprise Server,[8] Red Hat Enterprise Linux,[9][10] Rxart,[11] SUSE Linux Enterprise,[12]

The following distribution had at least one version that used to cost money: Caixa Mágica (now freely available), Elive (now freely available), Xandros (discontinued), Linspire[13] (discontinued)

Technical

The table below shows the default file system, but many Linux distributions support some or all of ext2, ext3, ext4, ReiserFS, Reiser4, JFS, XFS, GFS2, OCFS2, and NILFS. It is possible to install Linux onto most of these file systems. The ext file systems, namely ext2, ext3, and ext4 are based on the original Linux file system.

File systems have been developed by companies to meet their specific needs, and by hobbyists, or adapted from Unix, Microsoft Windows, and other operating systems. Linux has full support for XFS and JFS, FAT (the DOS file system), and HFS, the main file system for the Macintosh. Support for Microsoft Windows NT's NTFS file system has appeared, and is now comparable to the support available for other native Unix file systems. CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs' ISO 9660 and Universal Disk Format (UDF) are supported.

Unlike other operating systems, Linux and Unix allow any file system regardless of the medium it is stored on, whether that medium is a magnetic disk, an optical disk (CD, DVD, etc.), a USB flash memory key, or even contained within a file located on another file system. Similarly, many C compilers (mainly GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)), init systems (mainly systemd), desktop environments and window managers are widely supported.

Distribution Default file system Default init system Install-time desktop environment or window manager selection
aLinux none sysvinit KDE Plasma Workspaces
Alpine Linux ext4 openrc none
ALT Linux ext3 systemd KDE Plasma Workspaces, Xfce
aptosid ext3 sysvinit KDE Plasma Workspaces
Arch Linux none[14] systemd none
BackTrack ext3 sysvinit GNOME/KDE (Decided on download)
Bodhi Linux ext4 sysvinit Enlightenment
BOSS Linux ext4 sysvinit GNOME, KDE, Xfce
Caixa Mágica ? ? ?
CentOS ext4 sysvinit GNOME
Chakra ext4 systemd KDE Plasma Workspaces
ClearOS ext3 ? GNOME
CrunchBang Linux ext4 sysvinit Openbox
CRUX none rc Openbox
Damn Small Linux ext3 sysvinit JWM
Debian ext4 sysvinit GNOME, KDE, Xfce, LXDE[15]
Dragora GNU/Linux ? runit Xfce
Dyne:bolic ? ? ?
EasyPeasy ext3 ? GNOME, Ubuntu Netbook Edition
Elive SquashFS, ReiserFS initscripts Enlightenment
Fedora ext4 systemd GNOME
Finnix SquashFS runit none
Foresight Linux ext3 systemd GNOME
Frugalware none systemd KDE Plasma Workspaces
Gentoo none openrc Awesome, Enlightenment, Fluxbox, GNOME, KDE, LXDE-Meta, Openbox, XBMC and Xfce (live DVD)[16]
gnuLinEx ext2 ? GNOME
gNewSense ext3 ? GNOME
Instant WebKiosk SquashFS ? Has no DE. It's a browser-only interface
Kali Linux ext3 sysvinit GNOME
Kanotix ext3 ? KDE Plasma Workspaces
Knoppix XFS microknoppix LXDE
Linux Mint[17] ext4 upstart MATE, Cinnamon
Lunar Linux none systemd none
Mageia ext4 systemd KDE Plasma Workspaces, GNOME
Mandriva Linux ext4 systemd KDE Plasma Workspaces
MEPIS ext3, ext4 sysvinit KDE Plasma Workspaces
MintPPC ext3, ext4 upstart LXDE
Musix GNU/Linux ? ? ?
Network Security Toolkit ext4 systemd GNOME, Fluxbox
OpenELEC SquashFS shell script XBMC Media Center
openSUSE ext4 systemd KDE Plasma Workspaces, GNOME, Xfce
OpenWrt mini_fo+SquashFS/JFFS2[18] busybox-init none
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre ? ? ?
Pardus ext4 ? KDE Plasma Workspaces
Parsix ext4 systemd GNOME
PCLinuxOS none sysvinit KDE Plasma Workspaces, GNOME, LXDE, Xfce, Enlightenment, Openbox
Pentoo SquashFS openrc Enlightenment
Porteus Squashfs, ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32, reiser, xfs sysvinit KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Openbox, Razor-qt
Puppy Linux SquashFS containing ext2 busybox-init JWM
Red Flag Linux ext3 ? K Desktop Environment 3
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ext4 [19] ? GNOME
Rxart Desktop ext3 ? KDE Plasma Workspaces
Sabayon Linux ext4[20] systemd KDE Plasma Workspaces, GNOME
Scientific Linux ext4 sysvinit GNOME
SHR ext3, JFFS2, UBIFS systemd Enlightenment's Illume 2
Slackware ext4 sysvinit KDE Plasma Workspaces, Xfce, Fluxbox, Blackbox, twm
Slax SquashFS sysvinit KDE Plasma Workspaces
SliTaz GNU/Linux ext3 systemd Openbox
Source Mage GNU/Linux ext2 simpleinit-msb none
Super OS ext4 upstart Unity with fallback to GNOME 2.x
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop ext3 systemd GNOME
Tor-ramdisk ext2 ? none
Trisquel ext4, XFS upstart GNOME, LXDE
Ubuntu/Edubuntu ext4 [21] upstart Unity on GNOME, Unity 2D for fallback
Kubuntu ext4[21] upstart KDE Plasma Workspaces
Xubuntu ext4[21] upstart Xfce
Ututo ext3 ? GNOME
VectorLinux ReiserFS sysvinit KDE, Openbox, Fluxbox, IceWM, Xfce
Webconverger gitfs sysvinit dwm enforcing a Browser-only interface
XBMC Live ext3 upstart XBMC Media Center
Yellow Dog Linux ? sysvinit Enlightenment
Zentyal ext4 ? LXDE
Zenwalk ext4 sysvinit Xfce
Distribution Default file system Default init system Install-time desktop environment or window manager selection

Architecture support

Most Linux distributions support the x86 architecture and its evolution the x86-64 architecture. This table lists only distributions supporting other architectures.

Distribution x86 x86-64 ia64 ppc[22] ppc64 sparc32 sparc64 arm hppa[23] mips[24] sh s390 s390x alpha[25] m68k[26]
Arch Linux Yes (>=i686) Yes No Discontinued unofficial port No No No Yes
Unofficial[27] 		No No No No No No No
BackTrack Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Bodhi Linux Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
BOSS Linux Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No ? No No No No No No No
CentOS Yes Yes Discontinued
3.5-3.8
4.1-4.7[28] 		Beta
4.0 		No Beta
4.2[28][29] 		No No No No No Discontinued
3.5-3.8
4.1-4.7[28][30] 		Discontinued
3.5-3.8
4.1-4.7[28][30] 		Discontinued
4.2-4.3[28][31][32] 		No
Chakra No Yes No No No No No ? No No No No No No No
CRUX Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No
Debian[33] Yes Yes
4.0+ 		Discontinued
3.0-7.0[34] 		Yes
2.2+ 		Yes
Discontinued on Lenny[35] 		Yes Yes
2.2+ 		Discontinued
3.0-5.0 		Yes
3.0+ 		In progress Discontinued
3.0-7 		Yes
7+ 		Discontinued
2.1-5.0 		Discontinued
2.0-3.1
Dragora GNU/Linux ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dyne:bolic ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Fedora[36] Yes Yes Discontinued from
Fedora 9
[37] 		Yes Yes No Still active but slow in development, Last available is
Fedora 12,
Working on
Fedora 18
[38] 		Yes[39] No Inactive from
Fedora 13
[40] 		No No Yes No No
Finnix Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No
Frugalware Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Gentoo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes[41] Yes Yes[42][43] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
gNewSense ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Kali Linux Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
MEPIS Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
MintPPC No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No
Musix GNU/Linux ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
OES2-Linux Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No
OpenELEC Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
openSUSE[44] Yes Yes No No[45] No[45] No partial[46] partial[47] No No No No No No No
OpenWrt[48] Yes No No Yes No No No Yes No Yes Yes No No No No
Oracle Linux[49] Yes Yes Discontinued
5[50] 		No No No No No No No No No No No No
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Rxart Desktop Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Porteus Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No
Red Flag Linux Yes Yes Discontinued
3[51] 		No Discontinued
3[51] 		No No No No No No No No No No
Red Hat Linux[52] Yes No Discontinued
7.1-7.2 		Test release
5.1[53] 		No Discontinued
4.0-4.2
5.1-6.2 		Test release
5.1[53] 		No No Test release
5.1[53] 		No Discontinued
7.2 		Discontinued
7.1 		Discontinued
2.1-7.1 		Test release
5.1[53]
Red Hat Enterprise Linux[54] Discontinued
2.1-6[55] 		Yes
3+ 		Discontinued
2.1-5[56] 		Yes
3+ 		Yes
3+ 		No No No No No No Discontinued
3-4[57] 		Yes
3+ 		No No
Scientific Linux Yes Yes Discontinued
3-4 		No No No No No No No No No No No No
SHR No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Slackware Yes Yes No No No Discontinued
?[58] 		No Yes No No No Discontinued
?[59] 		Discontinued
?[59] 		Discontinued
8.1[60] 		No
Source Mage GNU/Linux Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server[61] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes No No
Tor-ramdisk Yes Yes[62] No No No No No No No Yes[63] No No No No No
Trisquel ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Lubuntu Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Ututo ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
XBMC Yes No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Yellow Dog Linux No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No
Distribution x86 x86-64 ia64 ppc ppc64 sparc32 sparc64 arm hppa mips sh s390 s390x alpha m68k

Package management and installation

Information on features in the distributions. Package numbers are only approximate (some distributions like Ubuntu tend to separate tools into different packages (usually stable release, development release, documentation and debug).

Distribution Approximate number of pre-compiled packages Approximate number of source packages Default package management tools Package format Default installer Graphical installation process
aLinux 1,200 RPM RPM No
ALT Linux 8,300[64] APT (APT-RPM), RPM RPM Yes
Arch Linux 10,928[65] 52,594 (5,365 from ABS[66] plus 47,229 from AUR[67]) Pacman .pkg.tar.xz None (install scripts only) No
Bodhi Linux 35,000 APT .dpkg Ubiquity Yes
BOSS Linux 37,493 APT .dpkg Debian-Installer Yes
Caixa Mágica 16,000 urpmi, APT (APT-RPM) RPM Yes
CentOS 1,660 RPM, yum/up2date RPM Yes
Chakra 3,074[68] CCR: 3,374[69] Pacman (will be replaced by Akabei in future) .pkg.tar.xz Package manager in development
ClearOS RPM, yum RPM No
CrunchBang Linux 23,000 APT .deb Yes
CRUX 1,155 pkgutils tgz No
Damn Small Linux 610 myDSL, APT .dsl, .tar.gz, .uci, .unc, .deb No
Debian 48,610[70] 14,975 APT .deb Debian-Installer Yes
Dragora GNU/Linux ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dyne:bolic ? ? ? ? ? ?
Elive 20,000 APT .deb Yes
Fedora 22,000 yum, PackageKit RPM Anaconda Yes
Finnix 350 APT .deb No
Foresight Linux 7,000 Conary, PackageKit[71] Yes
Frugalware 6,132[72] 73 Pacman .fpm Yes
Gentoo 15,691 31,136[73] Portage ebuild Yes[74]
gNewSense ? ? ? ? ? ?
gnuLinEx 200 APT .deb Yes
Kanotix 1,200 APT .deb Yes
Knoppix 3,600 APT .deb No
Linux Mint 50,781 APT .deb Ubiquity Yes
Lunar 3,120 lin source Yes
Mageia 17,283 (i586), 11,409 (x86-64)[75] 8,834[76] urpmi, rpmdrake RPM DrakX Yes
Mandriva Linux 22,600 urpmi, rpmdrake[77] RPM DrakX Yes
MEPIS 20,000 APT .deb MEPIS Install Yes
MintPPC 23,200 12,123 APT .deb Debian-Installer No
Musix GNU/Linux ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mythbuntu 35,000[78] APT .deb Ubiquity
Network Security Toolkit 8,280 8,280 yum RPM Anaconda Yes
OpenELEC XBMC addon manager, own and 3rd party addons .zip Yes
openSUSE 40,400 25,000[79] YaST, Zypper RPM YaST Yes
OpenWrt 2,000 opkg .ipk - No
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre ? ? ? ? ? ?
Pardus 4,000 PiSi .pisi YALI Yes
Parsix 29,000 14,900 APT .deb Yes
PCLinuxOS 12,000 APT, RPM RPM Yes
Puppy 700 PupGet, DotPup .pup, .pet Yes
Red Flag Red Flag Installer System, RPM RPM Yes
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3,000 RPM, yum RPM Yes
Rxart 5,000 APT .deb Yes
Sabayon Linux 12,000 Portage, Entropy ebuild Yes
Scientific APT/yum RPM Yes
SHR 3,000 3,000 opkg opk opkg Yes[80]
sidux 23,000 APT .deb Yes
Slackware 2,292 installpkg, upgradepkg tgz, .txz, .tlz, .tbz No
Slax 2,050 none .lzm
SliTaz GNU/Linux 3,381[81] Tazpkg .tazpkg tazinst Yes
Source Mage GNU/Linux 5,514 Sorcery Package Manager src Yes
Super OS APT .deb Ubiquity Yes
SUSE Linux 22,600 10,300[79] YaST, Zypper RPM YaST Yes
Tiny Core Linux 25,160 ab, tce-load tcz tc-install, core2usb Yes
Tiny SliTaz 50 Web site[82] none No
Tor-ramdisk none none No
Trisquel 44,678[83] ? APT .deb Ubiquity Yes
Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu 50,473[78] APT .deb Ubiquity Yes
Ututo 5,000 ? UTUTO Package Manager ebuild ? ?
Vector Linux slapt-get, gslapt, installpkg tgz Yes
XBMC Live APT .deb No
Zentyal APT .deb dpkg Yes
Zenwalk 2,000 netpkg, installpkg, upgradepkg tgz, txz Yes
Distribution Approximate number of packages Approximate number of source packages Default package management tools Package format Default installer Graphical installation process

Live media

Distribution Size (MB) RAM use (MB) Boots from CD Boots from DVD Installable live CD/DVD Installable from USB
ALT Linux Desktop or Lite 700 Yes Yes No
Arch Linux 181 to 673[84] Yes Yes Yes Yes
AUSTRUMI Linux 263 Yes Yes Yes Yes
BackTrack 1,910 Yes Yes Yes Yes
BOSS Linux 683 256 to 1,024 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bodhi Linux 500 80 Yes Yes Yes Yes
CentOS 700 to 3,400 DVD Yes Yes Officially not supported[85]
Chakra 1,600 No Yes Yes Yes
ClearOS 700 Yes No
CrunchBang Linux 873 256 to 1024 No Yes Yes Yes
Damn Small Linux 50 16 to 24[86] Yes Yes Yes Yes
Debian Live 50 to 5,120 Yes Yes Yes Yes
DidJiX 300 Yes Yes
Dragora GNU/Linux ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dyne:bolic ? ? ? ? ? ?
Elive 700 Yes Yes
Feather Linux 128 48 to 96 Yes Yes
Fedora
live CD 		683 256 to 1,024 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Finnix 100 to 130 28 to 64 Yes Yes No
Freespire 700 128 to 768 Yes No Yes
Gentoo 100 up to 128 Yes Yes Yes Yes
gNewSense ? ? ? ? ? ?
Grml 110 to 700 32 to 128 Yes No Yes Yes
Inquisitor live CD 210 96 Yes Yes Yes
Kali Linux 2,400 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Kanotix 700 Yes Yes
Knoppix CD
edition 		700 128 to 320 Yes Yes Only DVD edition is maintained
Knoppix DVD
"Maxi" edition 		4,812.8 No Yes
Gnoppix 4,812.8 No Yes No longer updated
gOS 700 Yes Yes Yes
Linux Mint 700 256 to 768 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Lunar Linux 421 Yes Yes Yes Yes[87]
Mandriva Linux One 700 128 to 768 Yes Yes Yes Yes
MEPIS 700 to 4,000 128 to 512 Yes Yes Yes Yes
MCNLive 350 Yes Yes
Musix GNU/Linux ? ? ? ? ? ?
Nanolinux ≈14 ≈64 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Micro Core Linux ≈8 ≈48 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Network Security Toolkit
live CD/DVD 		483 to 1,300 256 to 1,024 Yes Yes Yes Yes
nUbuntu 265 Yes Yes
OpenELEC 80 to 180 80 to 512 No No No Yes
openGEU 700 192 to 512 Yes Yes
openSUSE 700 128 to 768 Yes Yes Yes Yes
OpenWrt min 4 min 16 No No No No
Oralux 500 Yes Yes No longer updated
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre ? ? ? ? ? ?
Pardus 1,256 to 1,276 256 to 1,024 Yes Yes Yes Yes
PCLinuxOS 130 to 700 96 to 512 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pentoo 666 and 700 48 to 96 Yes Yes By hand[88] By hand
Puppy Linux (standard edition) 128 32 to 192 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Puredyne 542 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Sabayon Linux live CD 695 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Sabayon Linux live DVD 2,400 No Yes Yes Yes
Scientific Linux 431 to 2,300[89] 640 Yes Yes Yes Yes
sidux 400 to 1,999 193 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Slax 200 96 to 320 Yes Yes Yes
Super OS 1,200 No Yes Yes Yes
SystemRescueCD 160 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Tiny Core Linux ≈10 ≈48 Yes Yes Yes Yes
SliTaz GNU/Linux 35 24 to 192 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Tails ≈800 ≈1,024 No Yes Yes Yes (when run from DVD)
Tiny SliTaz 1.44 ≈8 Yes Yes By SliTaz By SliTaz
Tor-ramdisk 5 256 or >[90] Yes Yes Yes Yes
Trinity Rescue Kit 104 Yes Yes
Trisquel 700 384 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ubuntu 700 384 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Ututo ? ? ? ? ? ?
Edubuntu 700 Yes Yes Yes
Kubuntu 900 384 Yes Yes Yes Yes
XBMC Live 700 256 to 1,024 Yes No Yes Yes
Zentyal 600 256 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Xubuntu 700 256 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Distribution Size (MB) RAM use (MB) Boots from CD Boots from DVD Installable live CD/DVD Installable from USB

Security features

Distribution Compile time buffer checks Mandatory access control Software executable space protection grsecurity RSBAC
Alpine Linux Un­known Un­known PaX Yes Un­known
Debian/Ubuntu Yes SELinux,[91] AppArmor PaX Optional Optional
Fedora Yes SELinux[92] Exec Shield[93] No No
Gentoo[94] Optional SELinux PaX Optional Optional
gNewSense ? ? ? ? ?
Mandriva Un­known AppArmor[95] Un­known Un­known Yes
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre ? ? ? ? ?
SUSE Linux Yes AppArmor[96] Hardware NX and other methods in mainline kernel and toolchain[97] No No
Tor-ramdisk Un­known Un­known PaX Yes No
Trisquel ? ? ? ? ?
Ututo ? ? ? ? ?

See also

References

  1. ^ The secret origins of Google's Chrome OS
  2. ^ "DSL Information".
  3. ^ Dyne.org Foundation (September 2011). "Announcing 3.0.0 MUNIR". Retrieved 2012-06-22. The dyne:III consists in a Debian-Live system running free packages from various Apt based distributions, mostly Pure:dyne and Trisquel, which are blends of Ubuntu.
  4. ^ "Emdebian Grip 1.0 (lenny) released". emdebian.org. 2009-02-14. Retrieved 2014-02-04.
  5. ^ "gNewSense 3.0 "Parkes" stable". 6 August 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-06. You'll find that the look has changed from previous releases, marking the change from Ubuntu to Debian as a base.
  6. ^ "Building Tor-ramdisk from scratch: Obtain a working UCLIBC Based Linux System". Retrieved 2011-04-15.
  7. ^ http://trisquel.info/en/trisquel-gnulinux-601-lts-upgrade-release
  8. ^ How to Buy: Novell Open Enterprise Server 2
  9. ^ redhat.com | Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  10. ^ redhat.com | Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Operating Systems
  11. ^ Linux- RXART- Soluciones Linux - Linux Solutions
  12. ^ SUSE Linux Enterprise Operating Systems from Novell[dead link]
  13. ^ Linspire.com - Products
  14. ^ Official Arch Linux Install Guide: Set Filesystem Mountpoints
  15. ^ "Index of /debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-cd".
  16. ^ Abbott, David. "Gentoo Linux releases 11.2 LiveDVD". Gentoo Linux. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  17. ^ DistroWatch.com: Linux Mint
  18. ^ http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/techref/flash.layout
  19. ^ "Red Hat 6 ext4 documentation".[dead link]
  20. ^ Sabayon Forums • View topic - Sabayon Linux 4.1 KDE: Stable release
  21. ^ a b c "Ubuntu 10.10 Release Notes".
  22. ^ penguinppc.org
  23. ^ PA-RISC Linux
  24. ^ LinuxMIPS
  25. ^ AlphaLinux
  26. ^ The Linux/m68k Home Pages
  27. ^ Arch Linux ARM
  28. ^ a b c d e Pasi Pirhonen (2005-10-13). "CentOS-4.2 is Released for i386, x86_64, ia64, s390, s390x and alpha architectures". CentOS-announce (Mailing list). {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ Pasi Pirhonen (2006-05-24). "EOL notice for CentOS-4/sparc beta release". CentOS-announce (Mailing list). {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
  30. ^ a b Pasi Pirhonen (2005-06-24). "CentOS-4.1 s390(x) Release Announcement". CentOS-announce (Mailing list). {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
  31. ^ Pasi Pirhonen (2005-06-26). "CentOS-4/alpha 4.1beta is there to play". CentOS-announce (Mailing list). {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
  32. ^ Pasi Pirhonen (2006-06-25). "EOL notfication for CentOS-4/axp (alpha)". CentOS-announce (Mailing list). {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
  33. ^ Debian - Ports
  34. ^ Cyril Brulebois (2014-03-19). "Debian Installer Jessie Alpha 1 release". debian-devel-announce (Mailing list). {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
  35. ^ Jurij Smakov (2007-07-18). "Retiring the sparc32 port". debian-devel-announce (Mailing list). {{cite mailing list}}: Unknown parameter |mailinglist= ignored (|mailing-list= suggested) (help)
  36. ^ Fedora Architectures Specific Notes
  37. ^ "Architectures/IA64". Retrieved 2012-03-24.
  38. ^ "Architectures/SPARC". Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  39. ^ "Architectures/ARM". Retrieved 2010-07-20.
  40. ^ "Architectures/MIPS". Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  41. ^ "Gentoo Linux ARM Handbook".
  42. ^ "Gentoo Linux/MIPS Frequently Asked Questions".
  43. ^ "Gentoo/MIPS Linux Hardware Requirements".
  44. ^ openSUSE download page
  45. ^ a b no longer listed at site
  46. ^ openSUSE:SPARC - openSUSE
  47. ^ openSUSE ARM Portal
  48. ^ OpenWrt
  49. ^ Oracle Linux Technical Information
  50. ^ Oracle Linux Operating System,Specifications
  51. ^ a b Red Flag 4 server
  52. ^ Red Hat Linux archive
  53. ^ a b c d Linux Rough Cuts
  54. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Version comparison chart
  55. ^ 7.0 Release Notes
  56. ^ Red Hat Enterprise Linux, version 2.1
  57. ^ RHEL 4 is the last version to support 31-bit s390. RHEL 5 only supports 64-bit s390x.
  58. ^ Slackware Linux for SPARC
  59. ^ a b No updates since Dec-2009
  60. ^ Slackware Linux for the Alpha
  61. ^ SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Tech Specs
  62. ^ "Tor-ramdisk x86_64 Port". Retrieved 2011-04-15.
  63. ^ "Tor-ramdisk MIPS Port". Retrieved 2011-04-15.
  64. ^ Sisyphus - intro
  65. ^ Arch Linux package search
  66. ^ Arch Linux PKGBUILD sources
  67. ^ Arch Linux AUR repository
  68. ^ The Chakra Project Packages
  69. ^ Chakra Community Repository
  70. ^ "All Debian Packages in "wheezy"".
  71. ^ Foresight Linux | 1.4.1 Release Notes[dead link]
  72. ^ Frugalware Linux Package search
  73. ^ Gentoo Packages Categories
  74. ^ Can be installed graphically (GTK+ and ncurses), but traditionally done by command line (install cd, live cd, netboot, and from distributions).
  75. ^ "Linux Free Software Catalog and Packages Search". Linux Free Software Catalog and Packages Search. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  76. ^ Build system status
  77. ^ Mandriva 2008 release notes
  78. ^ a b "All Ubuntu Packages in "raring"". Canonical. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  79. ^ a b Stats for openSUSE_12.3 for Mar 24, 2013, using the script http://inai.de/files/dist/countpkg-suse3 -r openSUSE_12.3 or -r 'SLE_11.*' . Excludes known non-SUSE projects from the project list retrieved from the openSUSE.org Build Service instance.
  80. ^ NeoTool, a zenity installation GUI for Openmoko devices
  81. ^ SliTaz Packages Database, the package query webtool
  82. ^ Tiny SliTaz, the configuration builder webtool
  83. ^ "All Trisquel Packages in "toutatis"". Trisquel. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  84. ^ "Arch Linux - Downloads". Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  85. ^ The CentOS LiveCD Project
  86. ^ [1][dead link]
  87. ^ Installation:No CD - Lunar Linux
  88. ^ Pentoo Development Website[dead link]
  89. ^ "Scientific Linux i386 Live CD/DVD". Retrieved 2012-09-26.
  90. ^ "Tor-ramdisk Quickstart Guide". Retrieved 2011-04-15.
  91. ^ "Debian SELinux". Retrieved 2012-07-22.
  92. ^ "Mandatory Access Control with SELinux" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  93. ^ "Fedora Core 1 Release Notes - Kernel Notes". Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  94. ^ "Hardened Gentoo - 4. Subprojects". Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  95. ^ "Mandriva Linux 2008 Release Notes: Apparmor has replaced RSBAC as the in-kernel application security tool".
  96. ^ "AppArmor".[dead link]
  97. ^ "Security Features". Retrieved 2009-11-23.[dead link]
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