The Linux Portal
Linux (/ˈlɪnʊks/, LIN-uuks) 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 as a Linux distribution (distro), which includes the kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project.
Linux was originally developed for personal computers based on the Intel x86 architecture, but has since been ported to more platforms than any other operating system. Because of the dominance of Linux-based Android on smartphones, Linux, including Android, has the largest installed base of all general-purpose operating systems as of May 2022[update]. Linux is, as of March 2024[update], used by around 4 percent of desktop computers. The Chromebook, which runs the Linux kernel-based ChromeOS, dominates the US K–12 education market and represents nearly 20 percent of sub-$300 notebook sales in the US. Linux is the leading operating system on servers (over 96.4% of the top one million web servers' operating systems are Linux), leads other big iron systems such as mainframe computers, and is used on all of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers (as of November 2017[update], having gradually displaced all competitors).
Linux also runs on embedded systems, i.e., devices whose operating system is typically built into the firmware and is highly tailored to the system. This includes routers, automation controls, smart home devices, video game consoles, televisions (Samsung and LG smart TVs), automobiles (Tesla, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and Toyota), and spacecraft (Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon crew capsule, and the Ingenuity Mars helicopter). (Full article...)
Selected articles -
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Linaro is an engineering organization that works on free and open-source software such as the Linux kernel, the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), QEMU, power management, graphics and multimedia interfaces for the ARM family of instruction sets and implementations thereof as well as for the Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA). The company provides a collaborative engineering forum for companies to share engineering resources and funding to solve common problems on ARM software. In addition to Linaro's collaborative engineering forum, Linaro also works with companies on a one-to-one basis through its Services division.
Linaro works on software that is close to the silicon such as kernel, multimedia, power management, graphics and security. The company aims to provide stable, tested tools and code for multiple software distributions to use to reduce low-level fragmentation of embedded Linux software. It also provides engineering and investment in upstream open source projects and support to silicon companies in upstreaming code to be used with their systems-on-a-chip (SoC). Since the 3.10 Linux kernel release, Linaro has consistently been listed in the top ten contributors to the Linux kernel. (Full article...) -
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial open-source Linux distribution developed by Red Hat for the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86-64, Power ISA, ARM64, and IBM Z and a desktop version for x86-64. Fedora Linux and CentOS Stream serve as its upstream sources. All of Red Hat's official support and training, together with the Red Hat Certification Program, focuses on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform.
The first version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to bear the name originally came onto the market as "Red Hat Linux Advanced Server". In 2003, Red Hat rebranded Red Hat Linux Advanced Server to "Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS" and added two more variants, Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES and Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS. (Full article...) -
Fedora Linux is a Linux distribution developed by the Fedora Project. It was originally developed in 2003 as a continuation of the Red Hat Linux project. It contains software distributed under various free and open-source licenses and aims to be on the leading edge of open-source technologies. It is now the upstream source for CentOS Stream and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Since the release of Fedora 21 in December 2014, three editions have been made available: personal computer, server and cloud computing. This was expanded to five editions for containerization and Internet of Things (IoT) as of the release of Fedora 37 in November 2022. A new version of Fedora Linux is released every six months. (Full article...) -
Debian (/ˈdɛbiən/), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is the basis for many other distributions, such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Tails, Proxmox, Kali Linux, Pardus, TrueNAS SCALE, and Astra Linux.
Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kernel and, as of September 2023, the second oldest Linux distribution still in active development, only behind Slackware. The project is coordinated over the Internet by a team of volunteers guided by the Debian Project Leader and three foundational documents: the Debian Social Contract, the Debian Constitution, and the Debian Free Software Guidelines. New distributions are updated continually, and the next candidate is released after a time-based freeze. (Full article...) -
Linux malware includes viruses, Trojans, worms and other types of malware that affect the Linux family of operating systems. Linux, Unix and other Unix-like computer operating systems are generally regarded as very well-protected against, but not immune to, computer viruses. (Full article...)
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This article documents the version history of the Linux kernel.
Each major version – identified by the first two numbers of a release version – is designated one of the following levels of support: (Full article...) -
Gentoo Linux (pronounced /ˈdʒɛntuː/ JEN-too) is a Linux distribution built using the Portage package management system. Unlike a binary software distribution, the source code is compiled locally according to the user's preferences and is often optimized for the specific type of computer. Precompiled binaries are available for some packages. Gentoo runs on a wide variety of processor architectures.
Gentoo package management is designed to be modular, portable, easy to maintain, and flexible. Gentoo describes itself as a meta-distribution because of its adaptability, in that the majority of its users have configurations and sets of installed programs which are unique to the system and the applications they use. (Full article...) -
Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based and Debian-based Linux distribution. It comes bundled with a variety of free and open-source applications. Linux Mint offers three different desktop environments by default; Cinnamon, Xfce, and MATE. (Full article...) -
Linux adoption is the adoption of Linux-based computer operating systems (OSes) by households, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and governments.
Android, which runs on Linux, is the world's most widely used computer operating system. As of October 2024[update], Android has 45% of the global operating system market followed by Windows with 26%. (Full article...) -
The first-generation Nexus 7 tablet running Android, an operating system using the Linux kernel. While Linux-based operating systems are in common use in tablet computers, they are less frequently adopted as desktop computers.
The criticism of Linux focuses on issues concerning use of operating systems which use the Linux kernel.
While the Linux-based Android operating system dominates the smartphone market in many countries, and Linux is used on the New York Stock Exchange and most supercomputers, it is used in few desktop and laptop computers. Much of the criticism of Linux is related to the lack of desktop and laptop adoption, although as of 2015[update] there has been growing unease with the project's perspective on security and its adoption of systemd has been controversial. (Full article...) -
GNOME (/ɡəˈnoʊm/, /ˈnoʊm/) originally an acronym for GNU Network Object Model Environment, is a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.
Many major Linux distributions, including Debian, Fedora Linux, Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise distribute GNOME as their default desktop environment; it is also the default in Oracle Solaris, a Unix operating system. (Full article...) -
Rocky Linux is a Linux distribution developed by Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation, which is a privately owned benefit corporation that describes itself as a "self-imposed not-for-profit". It is intended to be a downstream, complete binary-compatible release using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) operating system source code. The project's aim is to provide a community-supported, production-grade enterprise operating system. Rocky Linux, along with RHEL and SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE), has become popular for enterprise operating system use.
The first release candidate version of Rocky Linux was released on April 30, 2021, and its first general availability version was released on June 21, 2021. Rocky Linux 8 will be supported through May 2029 and Rocky Linux 9 through May 2032. (Full article...) -
Ubuntu 24.10 "Oracular Oriole"
Ubuntu releases are made semiannually by Canonical Ltd, its developers, using the year and month of the release as a version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on 20 October 2004. Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month (or even year) than planned, the version number will change accordingly.
Canonical schedules Ubuntu releases to occur approximately one month after GNOME releases, resulting in each Ubuntu release including a newer version of GNOME. (Full article...) -
In a series of legal disputes between SCO Group and Linux vendors and users, SCO alleged that its license agreements with IBM meant that source code IBM wrote and donated to be incorporated into Linux was added in violation of SCO's contractual rights. Members of the Linux community disagreed with SCO's claims; IBM, Novell, and Red Hat filed claims against SCO.
On August 10, 2007, a federal district court judge in SCO v. Novell ruled on summary judgment that Novell, not the SCO Group, was the rightful owner of the copyrights covering the Unix operating system. The court also ruled that "SCO is obligated to recognize Novell's waiver of SCO's claims against IBM and Sequent". After the ruling, Novell announced they had no interest in suing people over Unix and stated "We don't believe there is Unix in Linux". The final district court ruling, on November 20, 2008, affirmed the summary judgment, and added interest payments and a constructive trust. (Full article...) -
Arch Linux (/ɑːrtʃ/) is an independently developed x86-64 general-purpose Linux distribution that strives to provide the latest stable versions of most software by following a rolling-release model. The default installation is intentionally minimal so that users can add only the packages they require.
pacman, a package manager written specifically for Arch Linux, is used to install, remove and update software packages. (Full article...)
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Release news
- 2024-11-17 Linux kernel 6.12 released.
- 2024-10-29 Fedora Linux 41 released.
- 2024-10-10 Ubuntu 24.10 "Oracular Oriole" released.
- 2024-09-18 GNOME 47 released. (announcement)
- 2024-09-15 Linux kernel 6.11 released.
- 2024-07-14 Linux kernel 6.10 released.
- 2024-05-12 Linux kernel 6.9 released.
- 2024-04-25 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS "Noble Numbat" released.
- 2024-04-23 Fedora Linux 40 released.
- 2024-03-20 GNOME 46 released. (announcement)
- 2024-03-10 Linux kernel 6.8 released.
- 2024-02-28 KDE Plasma 6 released.
- 2024-01-07 Linux kernel 6.7 released.
- 2023-11-20 Rocky Linux 9.3 released
- 2023-11-07 Fedora Linux 39 released.
- 2023-10-30 Linux kernel 6.6 released.
- 2023-10-12 Ubuntu 23.10 "Mantic Minotaur" released.
- 2023-09-20 GNOME 45 released.
- 2023-08-27 Linux kernel 6.5 released.
- 2023-06-26 Linux kernel 6.4 released.
- 2023-06-10 Debian 12 "bookworm" released.
- 2023-05-16 Rocky Linux 9.2 released.
- 2023-05-10 AlmaLinux 9.2 "Turquoise Kodkod" released.
- 2023-04-23 Linux kernel 6.3 released.
- 2023-04-20 Ubuntu 23.04 "Lunar Lobster" released.
- 2023-03-22 GNOME 44 released.
- 2023-02-19 Linux kernel 6.2 released.
- 2022-12-11 Linux kernel 6.1 released.
- 2022-11-16 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 and AlmaLinux 9.1 released.
- 2022-11-15 Fedora Linux 37 released.
- 2022-10-20 Ubuntu 22.10 "Kinetic Kudu" released.
- 2022-10-02 Linux kernel 6.0 released.
- 2022-09-21 GNOME 43 released-
- 2022-07-31 Linux kernel 5.19 released.
- 2022-05-26 AlmaLinux 9 released.
- 2022-05-22 Linux kernel 5.18 released.
- 2022-05-18 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 released.
- 2022-05-10 Fedora Linux 36 released.
- 2022-04-21 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS "Jammy Jellyfish" released.
- 2022-03-23 GNOME 42 released.
- 2022-03-20 Linux kernel 5.17 released.
- 2022-02-02 Slackware 15.0 released.
- 2022-01-09 Linux kernel 5.16 released.
- 2021-11-02 Fedora Linux 35 released.
Selected image
Cgroups are an integral part of the Linux kernel. Container could be based on them.
Related portals
Selected biographies -
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Bruce Perens (born around 1958) is an American computer programmer and advocate in the free software movement. He created The Open Source Definition and published the first formal announcement and manifesto of open source. He co-founded the Open Source Initiative (OSI) with Eric S. Raymond.
In 2005, Perens represented Open Source at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society, at the invitation of the United Nations Development Programme. He has appeared before national legislatures and is often quoted in the press, advocating for open source and the reform of national and international technology policy. (Full article...) -
Patrick Volkerding (born October 20, 1966) is the founder and maintainer of the Slackware Linux distribution. Volkerding is Slackware's "Benevolent Dictator for Life" (BDFL), and is also known informally as "The Man". (Full article...) -
Rémy Card is a French software developer who is credited as one of the primary developers of the Extended file system (ext) and Second Extended file system (ext2) for Linux. (Full article...)
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Benjamin Mako Hill is a free software activist, hacker, author, and professor. He is a contributor and free software developer as part of the Debian and Ubuntu projects as well as the co-author of three technical manuals on the subject, Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 Bible, The Official Ubuntu Server Book, and The Official Ubuntu Book.
Hill is an associate professor in Communication at the University of Washington. (Full article...) -
Sage Sharp (formerly Sarah Sharp) is an American software engineer who has worked on the Linux kernel, including serving on the Linux Foundation's Technical Advisory Board for two years. Sharp is non-binary and uses the pronouns "they" and "them".
Sharp began working on the kernel in 2006 as an undergraduate at Portland State University, and later through an Intel undergraduate research grant. Sharp's contributions to the kernel include writing and acting as a maintainer for its USB 3.0 driver. In 2015, Sharp recommended that the Linux project adopt a code of conduct for Linux developers; Linus Torvalds adopted a "code of conflict" instead. Sharp stepped down from direct work on the kernel on 5 October 2015, citing the abrasive communication style and "abusive commentary [on submitted patches]" of the maintainer community. (Full article...) -
Matthew Garrett is an Irish technologist, programmer, and free software activist who is a major contributor to a series of free software projects including Linux, GNOME, Debian, Ubuntu, and Red Hat. He has received the Free Software Award from the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for his work on Secure Boot, UEFI, and the Linux kernel. (Full article...) -
Alan or Allan Cox may refer to:
- Alan Cox (computer programmer) (born 1968), British computer programmer and Linux developer
- Alan Cox (actor) (born 1970), English actor
- Alan Cox (footballer) (1920–1993), footballer for Tranmere Rovers
- Alan Cox (radio personality) (born 1971), radio host
- Allan Cox (author) (1937–2016), American consultant and author
- Allan Cox (cricketer) (1873–1896), Barbadian cricketer
- Allan Leslie Cox (1927–1996), Canadian politician in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
- Allan V. Cox (1926–1987), American geophysicist
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David Stephen Miller (born November 26, 1974) is an American software developer working on the Linux kernel, where he is the primary maintainer of the networking subsystem and individual networking drivers, the SPARC implementation, and the IDE subsystem. With other people, he co-maintains the crypto API, KProbes, IPsec, and is also involved in other development work.
He is also a founding member of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) steering committee. (Full article...) -
Hans Thomas Reiser (born December 19, 1963) is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer. In April 2008, Reiser was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, Nina Reiser, who disappeared in September 2006. He subsequently pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder, as part of a settlement agreement that included disclosing the location of Nina Reiser's body, which he revealed to be in a shallow grave near the couple's home.
Prior to his incarceration, Reiser created the ReiserFS computer file system, which may be used by the Linux kernel but which is now scheduled for removal in 2025, as well as its attempted successor, Reiser4. In 2004, he founded Namesys, a corporation meant to coordinate the development of both file systems. (Full article...) -
Ian Ashley Murdock (April 28, 1973 – December 28, 2015) was an American software engineer, known for being the founder of the Debian project and Progeny Linux Systems, a commercial Linux company. (Full article...) -
Hans Peter Anvin (12 January 1972), also known as hpa, is a Swedish-American computer programmer who has contributed to free and open-source software projects. Anvin is the originator of SYSLINUX, Linux Assigned Names and Numbers Authority (LANANA), and various Linux kernel features. (Full article...) -
Linus Benedict Torvalds (/ˈliːnəs ˈtɔːrvɔːldz/ LEE-nəs TOR-vawldz, Finland Swedish: [ˈliːnʉs ˈtuːrvɑlds] ; born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish and American software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel. He also created the distributed version control system Git.
He was honored, along with Shinya Yamanaka, with the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize by the Technology Academy Finland "in recognition of his creation of a new open source operating system for computers leading to the widely used Linux kernel". He is also the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award and the 2018 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award. (Full article...) -
Greg Kroah-Hartman is a major Linux kernel developer. As of April 2013[update], he is the Linux kernel maintainer for the -stable branch, the staging subsystem, USB, driver core, debugfs, kref, kobject, and the sysfs kernel subsystems, Userspace I/O (with Hans J. Koch), and TTY layer. He also created linux-hotplug, the udev project, and the Linux Driver Project. He worked for Novell in the SUSE Labs division and, as of 1 February 2012[update], works at the Linux Foundation. (Full article...) -
Chris Wright is a Linux kernel developer and CTO with Red Hat. He was the Linux kernel co-maintainer for the -stable branch with Greg Kroah-Hartman. He is involved in Linux kernel security related topics and is currently the maintainer for the LSM framework.
Wright also serves as the Chair of the OpenDaylight Project Board of Directors. (Full article...) -
Stephen C. Tweedie is a Scottish software developer who is known for his work on the Linux kernel, in particular his work on filesystems.
After becoming involved with the development of the ext2 filesystem working on performance issues, he led the development of the ext3 filesystem which involved adding a journaling layer (JBD) to the ext2 filesystem. For his work on the journaling layer, he has been described by fellow Linux developer Andrew Morton as "a true artisan". (Full article...)
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General images -
The following are images from various Linux-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Four interfaces are distinguished: two internal to the kernel, and two between the kernel and userspace. (from Linux kernel) -
At XDC2014, Alex Deucher from AMD announced the unified kernel-mode driver. The proprietary Linux graphic driver, libGL-fglrx-glx, will share the same DRM infrastructure with Mesa 3D. As there is no stable in-kernel ABI, AMD had to constantly adapt the former binary blob used by Catalyst. (from Linux kernel) -
Logo of Debian GNU/kFreeBSD (from Debian) -
Debian 10 installation menu (BIOS Mode) (from Debian) -
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Fedora KDE Plasma Desktop, one of the several official Fedora Spins (from Fedora Linux) -
Cloud Ubuntu Orange Box -
Text version of the Debian Installer (from Debian) -
Logo of GNU Hurd (from Debian) -
Screenshot of GDebi Package installer (from Debian) -
The official logo (also known as open use logo) that contains the well-known Debian swirl (from Debian) -
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Redevelopment costs of Linux kernel (from Linux kernel) -
Fedora Workstation 35 installation summary (from Fedora Linux) -
The core values of the Fedora community (from Fedora Linux) -
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Package installed with Aptitude (from Debian) -
Debian 4 (Etch), 2007 (from Debian) -
Ubuntu - Version History - Visual Timeline - 20231019 (from Ubuntu) -
Xfce is default on CD images and non-Linux ports. (from Debian) -
Deepin logo (from Ubuntu) -
Graphical version of the Debian Installer (from Debian) -
Debian 6 (Squeeze), 2011 (from Debian) -
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Sankey diagram of Linux Kernel Source Lines of Code (from Linux kernel) -
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Debian 10 console login and welcome message (from Debian) -
Linux kernel panic output (from Linux kernel) -
A Debian 10 Buster box cover (from Debian) -
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The Linux Storage Stack Diagram (from Linux kernel) -
Boot messages of a Linux kernel 2.6.25.17 (from Linux kernel) -
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Eucalyptus interface (from Ubuntu) -
Fedora 21, a version that brought experimental Wayland and HiDPI support (2014-12) (from Fedora Linux) -
Map of the Linux kernel (from Linux kernel) -
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![Image 39Ubuntu family tree[dubious – discuss] (from Ubuntu)](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/UbuntuFamilyTree1210.svg/108px-UbuntuFamilyTree1210.svg.png)
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The Linux kernel supports various hardware architectures, providing a common platform for software, including proprietary software. (from Linux kernel)
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![Image 39Ubuntu family tree[dubious – discuss] (from Ubuntu)](/wiki/File:UbuntuFamilyTree1210.svg)
Did you know?
- ... that researchers submitting to the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy intentionally introduced security bugs into Linux?
- ... that it is now possible to run Linux on an Apple-silicon Mac?
- ... that Leafpad is a text editor for Linux that is comparable to Notepad for Windows?
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