Читать книгу Linux Bible - Christopher Negus - Страница 32

Having bundles of source code floating around the Internet that could be compiled and packaged into a Linux system worked well for geeks. More casual Linux users, however, needed a simpler way to put together a Linux system. To respond to that need, some of the best geeks began building their own Linux distributions.

A Linux distribution consists of the components needed to create a working Linux system and the procedures needed to get those components installed and running. Technically, Linux is really just what is referred to as the kernel. Before the kernel can be useful, you must have other software, such as basic commands (GNU utilities), services that you want to offer (such as remote login or web servers), and possibly a desktop interface and graphical applications. Then you must be able to gather all that together and install it on your computer's hard disk.

Slackware (http://www.slackware.com) is one of the oldest Linux distributions still supported today. It made Linux friendly for less technical users by distributing software already compiled and grouped into packages. (Those packages of software components were in a format called tarballs.) Then you would use basic Linux commands to do things like format your disk, enable swap, and create user accounts.

Before long, many other Linux distributions were created. Some Linux distributions were created to meet special needs, such as KNOPPIX (a live CD Linux), Gentoo (a cool customizable Linux), and Mandrake (later called Mandriva, which was one of several desktop Linux distributions). But two major distributions rose to become the foundation for many other distributions: Red Hat Linux and Debian.