this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2025
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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 more or less it. Linux Torvalds hates the different package managers and dependencies in different dists and versions of dists. He claims it's virtually impossible to ship products that just run on some random dist and cites his own sideproject which is a sea diving app where he builds binaries for Mac OSX and Windows but can't for Linux. He also praises Valve for using containers.
In theory it means slightly larger binaries, but the flipside it means Steam for Linux runs on a lot more dists, and so do the games and it's far easier to test they actually run.