Linux(/ˈlɪnʊks/,LIN-uuks)[11]is a generic name for a family ofopen-sourceUnix-likeoperating systemsbased on theLinux kernel,[12]anoperating system kernelfirst released on September 17, 1991, byLinus Torvalds.[13][14][15]Linux is typicallypackagedas aLinux distribution(distro), which includes the kernel and supportingsystem softwareandlibraries,many of which are provided by theGNU Project.

Linux
Tux the penguin
Tuxthe penguin, the mascot of Linux[1]
DeveloperCommunity contributors,
Linus Torvalds
Written inC,assembly languages,Rustand others
OS familyUnix-like
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen source
Initial releaseSeptember 17, 1991;33 years ago(1991-09-17)
Repositorygit.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/
Marketing targetCloud computing,embedded devices,mainframe computers,mobile devices,personal computers,servers,supercomputers
Available inMultilingual
PlatformsAlpha,ARC,ARM,C-Sky,Hexagon,LoongArch,m68k,Microblaze,MIPS,Nios II,OpenRISC,PA-RISC,PowerPC,RISC-V,s390,SuperH,SPARC,x86,Xtensa
KerneltypeMonolithic
UserlandGNU,[a]BusyBox[b]
Default
user interface
LicenseGPLv2[9][c]
Official websitekernel.org
Articles in the series
Linux kernel
Linux distribution

Popular Linux distributions[16][17][18]includeDebian,Fedora Linux,Arch Linux,andUbuntu.Commercial distributions includeRed Hat Enterprise LinuxandSUSE Linux Enterprise.Desktop Linux distributions include awindowing systemsuch asX11orWaylandand adesktop environmentsuch asGNOME,KDE PlasmaorXfce.Distributions intended forserversmay not have agraphical user interfaceat all or include asolution stacksuch asLAMP.Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but theFree Software Foundationuses and recommends the name "GNU/Linux"to emphasize the use and importance ofGNUsoftware in many distributions,causing some controversy.[19][20]Because Linux is freely redistributable, anyone may create a distribution for any purpose.[21]

Linux was originally developed forpersonal computersbased on theIntel x86architecture, but has since beenportedto moreplatformsthan any other operating system.[22]Because of the dominance of Linux-basedAndroidonsmartphones,Linux, including Android, has thelargest installed baseof allgeneral-purpose operating systemsas of May 2022.[23][24][25]Linux is, as of March 2024,used by around 4 percent ofdesktop computers.[26]TheChromebook,which runs the Linux kernel-basedChromeOS,dominates the USK–12education market and represents nearly 20 percent of sub-$300notebooksales in the US.[27]Linux is the leading operating system on servers (over 96.4% of the top one million web servers' operating systems are Linux),[28]leads otherbig ironsystems such asmainframe computers,and is used on all of theworld's 500 fastest supercomputers[d](as of November 2017,having gradually displaced all competitors).[29][30][31]

Linux also runs onembedded systems,i.e., devices whose operating system is typically built into thefirmwareand is highly tailored to the system. This includesrouters,automationcontrols,smart home devices,video game consoles,[32]televisions(Samsung and LGsmart TVs),[33][34][35]automobiles(Tesla, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and Toyota),[36]andspacecraft(Falcon 9rocket,Dragoncrew capsule, and thePerseverancerover).[37][38]

Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open-sourcesoftwarecollaboration. Thesource codemay be used, modified, and distributed commercially or non-commercially by anyone under the terms of its respective licenses, such as theGNU General Public License(GPL). The Linux kernel, for example, is licensed under the GPLv2, with an exception forsystem callsthat allows code that calls the kernel via system calls not to be licensed under the GPL.[39][40][21]

History

edit

Precursors

edit
Linus Torvalds,principal author of the Linux kernel

TheUnixoperating system was conceived and implemented in 1969, atAT&T'sBell Labs,in the United States byKen Thompson,Dennis Ritchie,Douglas McIlroy,andJoe Ossanna.[41]First released in 1971, Unix was written entirely inassembly language,as was common practice at the time. In 1973, in a key pioneering approach, it was rewritten in theCprogramming language by Dennis Ritchie (except for some hardware and I/O routines). The availability of ahigh-level languageimplementation of Unix made itsportingto different computer platforms easier.[42]

Due to an earlierantitrust case[specify]forbidding it[specify]from entering the computer business, AT&T licensed the operating system'ssource codeas atrade secretto anyone who asked.[clarification needed]As a result, Unix grew quickly and became widely adopted byacademic institutionsand businesses. In 1984,AT&T divested itselfof itsregional operating companies,and was released from its obligation not to enter the computer business; freed of that obligation, Bell Labs began selling Unix as aproprietaryproduct, where users were not legally allowed to modify it.[43][44]

Onyx Systemsbegan selling early microcomputer-based Unix workstations in 1980. Later,Sun Microsystems,founded as a spin-off of a student project atStanford University,also began selling Unix-based desktop workstations in 1982. While Sun workstations did not use commodity PC hardware, for which Linux was later originally developed, it represented the first successful commercial attempt at distributing a primarily single-user microcomputer that ran a Unix operating system.[45][46]

With Unix increasingly "locked in" as a proprietary product, theGNU Project,started in 1983 byRichard Stallman,had the goal of creating a "complete Unix-compatible software system" composed entirely offree software.Work began in 1984.[47]Later, in 1985, Stallman started theFree Software Foundationand wrote theGNU General Public License(GNU GPL) in 1989. By the early 1990s, many of the programs required in an operating system (such as libraries,compilers,text editors,acommand-line shell,and awindowing system) were completed, although low-level elements such asdevice drivers,daemons,and thekernel,calledGNU Hurd,were stalled and incomplete.[48]

Minixwas created byAndrew S. Tanenbaum,acomputer scienceprofessor, and released in 1987 as a minimal Unix-like operating system targeted at students and others who wanted to learn operating system principles. Although the complete source code of Minix was freely available, the licensing terms prevented it from beingfree softwareuntil the licensing changed in April 2000.[49]

Although not released until 1992, due tolegal complications,the development of386BSD,from whichNetBSD,OpenBSDandFreeBSDdescended, predated that of Linux. Linus Torvalds has stated on separate occasions that if theGNU kernelor 386BSD had been available at the time (1991), he probably would not have created Linux.[50][51]

Creation

edit

While attending theUniversity of Helsinkiin the fall of 1990, Torvalds enrolled in a Unix course.[52]The course used aMicroVAXminicomputer runningUltrix,and one of the required texts wasOperating Systems: Design and ImplementationbyAndrew S. Tanenbaum.This textbook included a copy of Tanenbaum'sMinixoperating system. It was with this course that Torvalds first became exposed to Unix. In 1991, he became curious about operating systems.[53]Frustrated by the licensing of Minix, which at the time limited it to educational use only,[49]he began to work on his operating system kernel, which eventually became the Linux kernel.

On July 3, 1991, to implement Unixsystem calls,Linus Torvalds attempted unsuccessfully to obtain a digital copy of thePOSIXstandardsdocumentationwith a request to thecomp.os.minixnewsgroup.[54]After not finding the POSIX documentation, Torvalds initially resorted to determining system calls fromSunOSdocumentation owned by the university for use in operating itsSun Microsystemsserver. He also learned some system calls from Tanenbaum's Minix text.

Torvalds began the development of the Linux kernel on Minix and applications written for Minix were also used on Linux. Later, Linux matured and further Linux kernel development took place on Linux systems.[55]GNU applications also replaced all Minix components, because it was advantageous to use the freely available code from the GNU Project with the fledgling operating system; code licensed under the GNU GPL can be reused in other computer programs as long as they also are released under the same or a compatible license. Torvalds initiated a switch from his original license, which prohibited commercial redistribution, to the GNU GPL.[56]Developers worked to integrate GNU components with the Linux kernel, creating a fully functional and free operating system.[57]

Naming

edit
5.25-inchfloppy disksholding a very early version of Linux

Linus Torvalds had wanted to call his invention "Freax",aportmanteauof "free", "freak", and "x" (as an allusion to Unix). During the start of his work on the system, some of the project'smakefilesincluded the name "Freax" for about half a year. Initially, Torvalds considered the name "Linux" but dismissed it as too egotistical.[58]

To facilitate development, the files were uploaded to theFTP server(ftp.funet.fi) ofFUNETin September 1991. Ari Lemmke, Torvalds' coworker at theHelsinki University of Technology(HUT) who was one of the volunteer administrators for the FTP server at the time, did not think that "Freax" was a good name, so he named the project "Linux" on the server without consulting Torvalds.[58]Later, however, Torvalds consented to "Linux".

According to anewsgrouppost by Torvalds,[11]the word "Linux" should be pronounced (/ˈlɪnʊks/LIN-uuks) with a short 'i' as in 'print' and 'u' as in 'blunt'. To further demonstrate how the word "Linux" should be pronounced, he included an audio guide with the kernel source code.[59]However, in this recording, he pronounces Linux as/ˈlinʊks/(LEEN-uuks) with a short butclose front unrounded vowel,instead of anear-close near-front unrounded vowelas in his newsgroup post.

edit
Ubuntu,a popular Linux distribution
Nexus 5XrunningAndroid

The adoption of Linux in production environments, rather than being used only by hobbyists, started to take off first in the mid-1990s in the supercomputing community, where organizations such asNASAstarted to replace their increasingly expensive machines withclustersof inexpensive commodity computers running Linux. Commercial use began whenDellandIBM,followed byHewlett-Packard,started offering Linux support to escapeMicrosoft's monopoly in the desktop operating system market.[60]

Today, Linux systems are used throughout computing, fromembedded systemsto virtually allsupercomputers,[31][61]and have secured a place in server installations such as the popularLAMPapplication stack. The use of Linux distributions in home and enterprise desktops has been growing.[62][63][64][65][66][67][68]Linux distributions have also become popular in thenetbookmarket, with many devices shipping with customized Linux distributions installed, and Google releasing their ownChromeOSdesigned for netbooks.

Linux's greatest success in the consumer market is perhaps the mobile device market, with Android being the dominant operating system onsmartphonesand very popular ontabletsand, more recently, onwearables.Linux gamingis also on the rise withValveshowing its support for Linux and rolling outSteamOS,its own gaming-oriented Linux distribution, which was later implemented in theirSteam Deckplatform. Linux distributions have also gained popularity with various local and national governments, such as the federal government ofBrazil.[69]

Current development[when?]

edit
In-flight entertainmentsystem booting up displaying the Linux mascot, Tux.

Linus Torvalds is the lead maintainer for the Linux kernel and guides its development, whileGreg Kroah-Hartmanis the lead maintainer for the stable branch.[70]Zoë Kooymanis the executive director of the Free Software Foundation,[71]which in turn supports the GNU components.[72]Finally, individuals and corporations develop third-party non-GNU components. These third-party components comprise a vast body of work and may include both kernel modules and user applications and libraries.

Linux vendors and communities combine and distribute the kernel, GNU components, and non-GNU components, with additionalpackage managementsoftware in the form of Linux distributions.

Design

edit

Many developers ofopen-sourcesoftware agree that the Linux kernel was not designed but ratherevolvedthroughnatural selection.Torvalds considers that although the design of Unix served as a scaffolding, "Linux grew with a lot of mutations – and because the mutations were less than random, they were faster and more directed thanalpha-particles in DNA."[73]Eric S. Raymondconsiders Linux's revolutionary aspects to be social, not technical: before Linux, complex software was designed carefully by small groups, but "Linux evolved in a completely different way. From nearly the beginning, it was rather casually hacked on by huge numbers of volunteers coordinating only through the Internet. Quality was maintained not by rigid standards or autocracy but by the naively simple strategy of releasing every week and getting feedback from hundreds of users within days, creating a sort of rapid Darwinian selection on the mutations introduced by developers."[74]Bryan Cantrill,an engineer of a competing OS, agrees that "Linux wasn't designed, it evolved", but considers this to be a limitation, proposing that some features, especially those related to security,[75]cannot be evolved into, "this is not a biological system at the end of the day, it's a software system."[76]

A Linux-based system is a modular Unix-like operating system, deriving much of its basic design from principles established in Unix during the 1970s and 1980s. Such a system uses amonolithic kernel,the Linux kernel, which handles process control, networking, access to theperipherals,andfile systems.Device driversare either integrated directly with the kernel or added as modules that are loaded while the system is running.[77]

The GNUuserlandis a key part of most systems based on the Linux kernel, with Android being the notable exception. TheGNU C library,an implementation of theC standard library,works as a wrapper for the system calls of the Linux kernel necessary to the kernel-userspace interface, thetoolchainis a broad collection of programming tools vital to Linux development (including thecompilersused to build the Linux kernel itself), and thecoreutilsimplement many basicUnix tools.The GNU Project also developsBash,a popularCLIshell. Thegraphical user interface(or GUI) used by most Linux systems is built on top of an implementation of theX Window System.[78]More recently, the Linux community has sought to advance toWaylandas the new display server protocol, in place of X11. Many other open-source software projects contribute to Linux systems.

Various layers within Linux, also showing separation between theuserlandandkernel space
User mode User applications bash,LibreOffice,GIMP,Blender,0 A.D.,Mozilla Firefox,...
System components init daemon:
OpenRC,runit,systemd...
System daemons:
polkitd,smbd,sshd,udevd...
Window manager:
X11,Wayland,SurfaceFlinger(Android)
Graphics:
Mesa,AMD Catalyst,...
Other libraries:
GTK,Qt,EFL,SDL,SFML,FLTK,GNUstep,...
C standard library fopen,execv,malloc,memcpy,localtime,pthread_create... (up to 2000subroutines)
glibcaims to be fast,muslaims to be lightweight,uClibctargets embedded systems,bionicwas written forAndroid,etc. All aim to bePOSIX/SUS-compatible.
Kernel mode Linux kernel stat,splice,dup,read,open,ioctl,write,mmap,close,exit,etc. (about 380 system calls)
The Linux kernelSystem Call Interface(SCI), aims to bePOSIX/SUS-compatible[79]
Process schedulingsubsystem IPCsubsystem Memory managementsubsystem Virtual filessubsystem Networking subsystem
Other components:ALSA,DRI,evdev,klibc,LVM,device mapper,Linux Network Scheduler,Netfilter
Linux Security Modules:SELinux,TOMOYO,AppArmor,Smack
Hardware (CPU,main memory,data storage devices,etc.)

Installed components of a Linux system include the following:[78][80]

  • Abootloader,for exampleGNU GRUB,LILO,SYSLINUXorsystemd-boot.This is a program that loads the Linux kernel into the computer'smain memory,by being executed by the computer when it is turned on and after thefirmwareinitialization is performed.
  • Aninitprogram, such as the traditionalsysvinitand the newersystemd,OpenRCandUpstart.This is the firstprocesslaunched by the Linux kernel, and is at the root of the process tree. It starts processes such as system services and login prompts (whether graphical or in terminal mode).
  • Software libraries,which contain code that can be used by running processes. On Linux systems usingELF-format executable files, thedynamic linkerthat manages the use of dynamic libraries is known asld-linux.so.If the system is set up for the user to compile software themselves,header fileswill also be included to describe theprogramming interfaceof installed libraries. Besides the most commonly used software library on Linux systems, theGNU C Library(glibc), there are numerous other libraries, such asSDLandMesa.
    • TheC standard libraryis the library necessary to run programs written inCon a computer system, with the GNU C Library being the standard. It provides an implementation of the POSIX API, as well as extensions to that API. For embedded systems, alternatives such asmusl,EGLIBC(a glibc fork once used by Debian) anduClibc(which was designed foruClinux) have been developed, although the last two are no longer maintained. Android uses its own C library,Bionic.However, musl can additionally be used as a replacement for glibc on desktop and laptop systems, as seen on certain Linux distributions likeVoid Linux.
  • Basic Unix commands, with GNU coreutils being the standard implementation. Alternatives exist for embedded systems, such as the copyleftBusyBox,and the BSD-licensedToybox.
  • Widget toolkitsare the libraries used to buildgraphical user interfaces(GUIs) for software applications. Numerous widget toolkits are available, includingGTKand Clutter developed by theGNOME Project,Qtdeveloped by theQt Projectand led byThe Qt Company,andEnlightenment Foundation Libraries(EFL) developed primarily by theEnlightenmentteam.
  • Apackage management system,such asdpkgandRPM.Alternatively packages can be compiled from binary or sourcetarballs.
  • User interface programs such as command shells or windowing environments.

User interface

edit

Theuser interface,also known as theshell,is either a command-line interface (CLI), a graphical user interface (GUI), or controls attached to the associated hardware, which is common for embedded systems. For desktop systems, the default user interface is usually graphical, although the CLI is commonly available throughterminal emulatorwindows or on a separatevirtual console.

CLI shells are text-based user interfaces, which use text for both input and output. The dominant shell used in Linux is theBourne-Again Shell(bash), originally developed for the GNU Project. Most low-level Linux components, including various parts of theuserland,use the CLI exclusively. The CLI is particularly suited for automation of repetitive or delayed tasks and provides very simpleinter-process communication.

On desktop systems, the most popular user interfaces are theGUI shells,packaged together with extensive desktop environments, such asKDE Plasma,GNOME,MATE,Cinnamon,LXDE,Pantheon,andXfce,though a variety of additional user interfaces exist. Most popular user interfaces are based on the X Window System, often simply called "X". It providesnetwork transparencyand permits a graphical application running on one system to be displayed on another where a user may interact with the application; however, certain extensions of the X Window System are not capable of working over the network.[81]Several X display servers exist, with the reference implementation,X.Org Server,being the most popular.

Server distributions might provide a command-line interface for developers and administrators, but provide a custom interface for end-users, designed for the use case of the system. This custom interface is accessed through a client that resides on another system, not necessarily Linux-based.

Several types ofwindow managersexist for X11, includingtiling,dynamic,stacking,andcompositing.Window managers provide means to control the placement and appearance of individual application windows, and interact with the X Window System. SimplerX window managerssuch asdwm,ratpoison,ori3wmprovide aminimalistfunctionality, while more elaborate window managers such asFVWM,Enlightenment,orWindow Makerprovide more features such as a built-intaskbarandthemes,but are still lightweight when compared to desktop environments. Desktop environments include window managers as part of their standard installations, such asMutter(GNOME),KWin(KDE), orXfwm(xfce), although users may choose to use a different window manager if preferred.

Wayland is a display server protocol intended as a replacement for the X11 protocol; as of 2022,it has received relatively wide adoption.[82]Unlike X11, Wayland does not need an external window manager and compositing manager. Therefore, a Wayland compositor takes the role of the display server, window manager, and compositing manager. Weston is the reference implementation of Wayland, while GNOME's Mutter and KDE's KWin are being ported to Wayland as standalone display servers. Enlightenment has already been successfully ported since version 19.[83]Additionally, many window managers have been made for Wayland, such as Sway or Hyprland, as well as other graphical utilities such as Waybar or Rofi.

Video input infrastructure

edit

Linux currently has two modern kernel-userspace APIs for handling video input devices:V4L2API for video streams and radio, andDVBAPI for digital TV reception.[84]

Due to the complexity and diversity of different devices, and due to the large number of formats and standards handled by those APIs, this infrastructure needs to evolve to better fit other devices. Also, a good userspace device library is the key to the success of having userspace applications to be able to work with all formats supported by those devices.[85][86]

Development

edit
Simplified history of Unix-like operating systems. Linux shares similar architecture and concepts (as part of thePOSIXstandard) but does not share non-free source code with the originalUnixor Minix.

The primary difference between Linux and many other popular contemporary operating systems is that the Linux kernel and other components are free and open-source software. Linux is not the only such operating system, although it is by far the most widely used.[87]Somefreeandopen-source software licensesare based on the principle ofcopyleft,a kind of reciprocity: any work derived from a copyleft piece of software must also be copyleft itself. The most common free software license, the GNU General Public License (GPL), is a form of copyleft and is used for the Linux kernel and many of the components from the GNU Project.[88]

Linux-based distributions are intended by developers forinteroperabilitywith other operating systems and established computing standards. Linux systems adhere to POSIX,[89]SUS,[90]LSB,ISO,andANSIstandards where possible, although to date only one Linux distribution has been POSIX.1 certified, Linux-FT.[91][92]

Free software projects, although developed throughcollaboration,are often produced independently of each other. The fact that the software licenses explicitly permit redistribution, however, provides a basis for larger-scale projects that collect the software produced by stand-alone projects and make it available all at once in the form of a Linux distribution.

Many Linux distributions manage a remote collection of system software and application software packages available for download and installation through a network connection. This allows users to adapt the operating system to their specific needs. Distributions are maintained by individuals, loose-knit teams, volunteer organizations, and commercial entities. A distribution is responsible for the default configuration of the installed Linux kernel, general system security, and more generally integration of the different software packages into a coherent whole. Distributions typically use a package manager such asapt,yum,zypper,pacmanorportageto install, remove, and update all of a system's software from one central location.[93]

Community

edit

A distribution is largely driven by its developer and user communities. Some vendors develop and fund their distributions on a volunteer basis,Debianbeing a well-known example. Others maintain a community version of their commercial distributions, asRed Hatdoes withFedora,andSUSEdoes withopenSUSE.[94][95]

In many cities and regions, local associations known asLinux User Groups(LUGs) seek to promote their preferred distribution and by extension free software. They hold meetings and provide free demonstrations, training, technical support, and operating system installation to new users. Many Internet communities also provide support to Linux users and developers. Most distributions and free software / open-source projects haveIRCchatrooms ornewsgroups.Online forumsare another means of support, with notable examples beingLinuxQuestions.organd the various distribution-specific support and community forums, such as ones forUbuntu,Fedora,Arch Linux,Gentoo,etc. Linux distributions hostmailing lists;commonly there will be a specific topic such as usage or development for a given list.

There are several technology websites with a Linux focus. Print magazines on Linux often bundlecover disksthat carry software or even complete Linux distributions.[96][97]

Although Linux distributions are generally available without charge, several large corporations sell, support, and contribute to the development of the components of the system and free software. An analysis of the Linux kernel in 2017 showed that well over 85% of the code was developed by programmers who are being paid for their work, leaving about 8.2% to unpaid developers and 4.1% unclassified.[98]Some of the major corporations that provide contributions includeIntel,Samsung,Google,AMD,Oracle,andFacebook.[98]Several corporations, notably Red Hat,Canonical,andSUSEhave built a significant business around Linux distributions.

Thefree software licenses,on which the various software packages of a distribution built on the Linux kernel are based, explicitly accommodate and encourage commercialization; the relationship between a Linux distribution as a whole and individual vendors may be seen assymbiotic.One commonbusiness modelof commercial suppliers is charging for support, especially for business users. A number of companies also offer a specialized business version of their distribution, which adds proprietary support packages and tools to administer higher numbers of installations or to simplify administrative tasks.

Another business model is to give away the software to sell hardware. This used to be the norm in the computer industry, with operating systems such asCP/M,Apple DOS,and versions of theclassic Mac OSbefore 7.6 freely copyable (but not modifiable). As computer hardware standardized throughout the 1980s, it became more difficult for hardware manufacturers to profit from this tactic, as the OS would run on any manufacturer's computer that shared the same architecture.

Programming on Linux

edit

Mostprogramming languagessupport Linux either directly or through third-party community basedports.[99]The original development tools used for building both Linux applications and operating system programs are found within theGNU toolchain,which includes theGNU Compiler Collection(GCC) and theGNU Build System.Amongst others, GCC provides compilers forAda,C,C++,GoandFortran.Many programming languages have a cross-platform reference implementation that supports Linux, for examplePHP,Perl,Ruby,Python,Java,Go,RustandHaskell.First released in 2003, theLLVMproject provides an alternative cross-platform open-source compiler for many languages.Proprietarycompilers for Linux include theIntel C++ Compiler,Sun Studio,andIBM XL C/C++ Compiler.BASICis available inproceduralform fromQB64,PureBasic,Yabasic,GLBasic,Basic4GL,XBasic,wxBasic,SdlBasic,andBasic-256,as well asobject orientedthroughGambas,FreeBASIC,B4X,Basic for Qt,Phoenix Object Basic,NS Basic,ProvideX,Chipmunk Basic,RapidQandXojo.Pascalis implemented throughGNU Pascal,Free Pascal,andVirtual Pascal,as well as graphically viaLazarus,PascalABC.NET,orDelphiusingFireMonkey(previously throughBorland Kylix).

A common feature of Unix-like systems, Linux includes traditional specific-purpose programming languages targeted atscripting,text processing and system configuration and management in general. Linux distributions supportshell scripts,awk,sedandmake.Many programs also have an embedded programming language to support configuring or programming themselves. For example,regular expressionsare supported in programs likegrepandlocate,the traditional Unix message transfer agentSendmailcontains its ownTuring completescripting system, and the advanced text editorGNU Emacsis built around a general purposeLispinterpreter.

Most distributions also include support forPHP,Perl,Ruby,Pythonand otherdynamic languages.While not as common, Linux also supportsC#and otherCLIlanguages(viaMono),Vala,andScheme.Guile Schemeacts as anextension languagetargeting the GNU system utilities, seeking to make the conventionally small,static,compiled C programs ofUnix designrapidly and dynamically extensible via an elegant,functionalhigh-level scripting system; many GNU programs can be compiled with optional Guilebindingsto this end. A number ofJava virtual machinesand development kits run on Linux, including the original Sun Microsystems JVM (HotSpot), and IBM's J2SE RE, as well as many open-source projects likeKaffeandJikes RVM;Kotlin,Scala,Groovyand otherJVM languagesare also available.

GNOMEandKDEare popular desktop environments and provide a framework for developing applications. These projects are based on theGTKandQtwidget toolkits, respectively, which can also be used independently of the larger framework. Both support a wide variety of languages. There area numberofIntegrated development environmentsavailable includingAnjuta,Code::Blocks,CodeLite,Eclipse,Geany,ActiveState Komodo,KDevelop,Lazarus,MonoDevelop,NetBeans,andQt Creator,while the long-established editorsVim,nanoandEmacsremain popular.[100]

Hardware support

edit
Linux is ubiquitously found on various types of hardware.

The Linux kernel is a widely ported operating system kernel, available for devices ranging from mobile phones to supercomputers; it runs on a highly diverse range ofcomputer architectures,includingARM-based Android smartphones and theIBM Zmainframes. Specialized distributions and kernel forks exist for less mainstream architectures; for example, theELKSkernelforkcan run onIntel 8086orIntel 8028616-bit microprocessors, while theμClinuxkernel fork may run on systems without amemory management unit.The kernel also runs on architectures that were only ever intended to use a proprietary manufacturer-created operating system, such asMacintoshcomputers[101][102](withPowerPC,Intel,andApple siliconprocessors),PDAs,video game consoles,portable music players,and mobile phones.

Linux has a reputation for supporting old hardware very well by maintaining standardized drivers for a long time.[103]There are several industry associations and hardwareconferencesdevoted to maintaining and improving support for diverse hardware under Linux, such asFreedomHEC.Over time, support for different hardware has improved in Linux, resulting in any off-the-shelf purchase having a "good chance" of being compatible.[104]

In 2014, a new initiative was launched to automatically collect a database of all tested hardware configurations.[105]

Uses

edit

Market share and uptake

edit

Many quantitative studies of free/open-source software focus on topics including market share and reliability, with numerous studies specifically examining Linux.[106]The Linux market is growing, and the Linux operating system market size is expected to see a growth of 19.2% by 2027, reaching $15.64 billion, compared to $3.89 billion in 2019.[107]Analysts project a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.7% between 2024 and 2032, culminating in a market size of USD 34.90 billion by the latter year.[108]Analysts and proponents attribute the relative success of Linux to its security, reliability, low cost, and freedom fromvendor lock-in.[109][110]

Desktops and laptops
According toweb server statistics(that is, based on the numbers recorded from visits to websites by client devices), as of February 2024,the estimated market share of Linux ondesktop computersis around 3.7%. In comparison,Microsoft Windowshas a market share of around 72.9%, whilemacOScovers around 16.13%.[26]
Web servers
W3Cook publishes stats that use the top 1,000,000 Alexa domains,[111]which as of May 2015estimate that 96.55% of web servers run Linux, 1.73% run Windows, and 1.72% run FreeBSD.[112]
W3Techs publishes stats that use the top 10,000,000 Alexa domains and the top 1,000,000 Tranco domains, updated monthly[113]and as of November 2020estimate that Linux is used by 39% of the web servers, versus 21.9% being used byMicrosoft Windows.[114]40.1% used other types of Unix.[115]
IDC's Q1 2007 report indicated that Linux held 12.7% of the overall server market at that time;[116]this estimate was based on the number of Linux servers sold by various companies, and did not include server hardware purchased separately that had Linux installed on it later.
Mobile devices
Android, which is based on the Linux kernel, has become the dominant operating system for smartphones. In April 2023, 68.61% of mobile devices accessing websites usingStatCounterwere from Android.[117]Android is also a popular operating system for tablets, being responsible for more than 60% of tablet sales as of 2013.[118]According to web server statistics, as of October 2021Android has a market share of about 71%, withiOSholding 28%, and the remaining 1% attributed to various niche platforms.[119]
Film production
For years, Linux has been the platform of choice in the film industry. The first major film produced on Linux servers was 1997'sTitanic.[120][121]Since then major studios includingDreamWorks Animation,Pixar,Weta Digital,andIndustrial Light & Magichave migrated to Linux.[122][123][124]According to the Linux Movies Group, more than 95% of the servers and desktops at large animation and visual effects companies use Linux.[125]
Use in government
Linux distributions have also gained popularity with various local and national governments. News of the Russian military creating its own Linux distribution has also surfaced, and has come to fruition as the G.H.ost Project.[126]The Indian state ofKeralahas gone to the extent of mandating that all state high schools run Linux on their computers.[127][128]Chinauses Linux exclusively as the operating system for itsLoongsonprocessor family to achieve technology independence.[129]In Spain, some regions have developed their own Linux distributions, which are widely used in education and official institutions, like gnuLinEx in Extremadura and Guadalinex in Andalusia.FranceandGermanyhave also taken steps toward the adoption of Linux.[130]North Korea'sRed Star OS,developed as of 2002,is based on a version of Fedora Linux.[131]

Copyright, trademark, and naming

edit

The Linux kernel islicensedunder the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2. The GPL requires that anyone who distributes software based on source code under this license must make the originating source code (and any modifications) available to the recipient under the same terms.[132]Other key components of a typical Linux distribution are also mainly licensed under the GPL, but they may use other licenses; many libraries use theGNU Lesser General Public License(LGPL), a more permissive variant of the GPL, and theX.Orgimplementation of the X Window System uses theMIT License.

Torvalds states that the Linux kernel will not move from version 2 of the GPL to version 3.[133][134]He specifically dislikes some provisions in the new license which prohibit the use of the software indigital rights management.[135]It would also be impractical to obtain permission from all the copyright holders, who number in the thousands.[136]

A 2001 study ofRed Hat Linux7.1 found that this distribution contained 30 millionsource lines of code.[137]Using theConstructive Cost Model,the study estimated that this distribution required about eight thousand person-years of development time. According to the study, if all this software had been developed by conventional proprietary means, it would have cost aboutUS$1.82 billion[138]to develop in 2023 in the United States.[137]Most of the source code (71%) was written in the C programming language, but many other languages were used, includingC++,Lisp,assembly language, Perl, Python,Fortran,and variousshell scriptinglanguages. Slightly over half of all lines of code were licensed under the GPL. The Linux kernel itself was 2.4 million lines of code, or 8% of the total.[137]

In a later study, the same analysis was performed for Debian version 4.0 (etch, which was released in 2007).[139]This distribution contained close to 283 million source lines of code, and the study estimated that it would have required about seventy three thousand man-years and costUS$10.2 billion[138](in 2023 dollars) to develop by conventional means.

The name "Linux" is also used for a laundry detergent made by Swiss company Rösch.[140]

In the United States, the nameLinuxis a trademark registered to Linus Torvalds.[10]Initially, nobody registered it. However, on August 15, 1994, William R. Della Croce Jr. filed for the trademarkLinux,and then demanded royalties from Linux distributors. In 1996, Torvalds and some affected organizations sued him to have the trademark assigned to Torvalds, and, in 1997, the case was settled.[141]The licensing of the trademark has since been handled by theLinux Mark Institute(LMI). Torvalds has stated that he trademarked the name only to prevent someone else from using it. LMI originally charged a nominal sublicensing fee for use of the Linux name as part of trademarks,[142]but later changed this in favor of offering a free, perpetual worldwide sublicense.[143]

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) prefersGNU/Linuxas the name when referring to the operating system as a whole, because it considers Linux distributions to bevariantsof the GNU operating system initiated in 1983 byRichard Stallman,president of the FSF.[19][20]The foundation explicitly takes no issue over the name Android for the Android OS, which is also an operating system based on the Linux kernel, as GNU is not a part of it.

A minority of public figures and software projects other than Stallman and the FSF, notably distributions consisting of only free software, such as Debian (which had been sponsored by the FSF up to 1996),[144]also useGNU/Linuxwhen referring to the operating system as a whole.[145][146][147]Most media and common usage, however, refers to this family of operating systems simply asLinux,as do many large Linux distributions (for example,SUSE LinuxandRed Hat Enterprise Linux).

As of May 2011,about 8% to 13% of thelines of codeof the Linux distribution Ubuntu (version "Natty" ) is made of GNU components (the range depending on whether GNOME is considered part of GNU); meanwhile, 6% is taken by the Linux kernel, increased to 9% when including its direct dependencies.[148]

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^GNU is the primary userland used in nearly all Linux distributions.[2][3][4]The GNU userland contains system daemons, user applications, the GUI, and various libraries.GNU Core Utilitiesare an essential part of most distributions. Most Linux distributions use theX Windowsystem.[5]Other components of the userland, such as thewidget toolkit,vary with the specific distribution, desktop environment, and user configuration.[6]
  2. ^BusyBox is an alternative userland used in many embedded Linux distributions. BusyBox replaces mostGNU Core Utilities.[7]One notable Desktop distribution using BusyBox isAlpine Linux.[8]
  3. ^The name "Linux" itself is a trademark owned byLinus Torvalds[10]and administered by theLinux Mark Institute.
  4. ^As measured by theTOP500list, which usesHPLto measure computational power

References

edit
  1. ^Linux Online (2008)."Linux Logos and Mascots".Archived fromthe originalon August 15, 2010.RetrievedAugust 11,2009.
  2. ^"GNU Userland".Archived fromthe originalon March 8, 2016.
  3. ^"Unix Fundamentals — System Administration for Cyborgs".Archived fromthe originalon October 5, 2016.
  4. ^"Operating Systems — Introduction to Information and Communication Technology".Archivedfrom the original on February 21, 2016.
  5. ^"The X Window System".Archivedfrom the original on January 20, 2016.
  6. ^"PCLinuxOS Magazine – HTML".Archived fromthe originalon May 15, 2013.
  7. ^"The Busybox about page".busybox.net.Archivedfrom the original on November 27, 2021.RetrievedNovember 30,2021.
  8. ^"The Alpine Linux about page".alpinelinux.org.Archivedfrom the original on May 8, 2011.RetrievedNovember 30,2021.
  9. ^"The Linux Kernel Archives: Frequently asked questions".kernel.org.September 2, 2014.Archivedfrom the original on September 5, 2015.RetrievedSeptember 4,2015.
  10. ^ab"U.S. Reg No: 1916230".United States Patent and Trademark Office.Archivedfrom the original on June 24, 2013.RetrievedApril 1,2006.
  11. ^ab"Re: How to pronounceLinux?".Newsgroup:comp.os.linux.April 23, 1992.Usenet:[email protected].RetrievedJanuary 9,2007.
  12. ^Eckert, Jason W. (2012).Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification(Third ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning. p. 33.ISBN978-1111541538.Archivedfrom the original on May 9, 2013.RetrievedApril 14,2013.The shared commonality of the kernel is what defines a system's membership in the Linux family; the differingOSSapplications that can interact with the common kernel are what differentiate Linux distributions.
  13. ^"Twenty Years of Linux according to Linus Torvalds".ZDNet. April 13, 2011.Archivedfrom the original on September 19, 2016.RetrievedSeptember 19,2016.
  14. ^Linus Benedict Torvalds (October 5, 1991)."Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT".Newsgroup:comp.os.minix.Archivedfrom the original on March 2, 2013.RetrievedSeptember 30,2011.
  15. ^"What Is Linux: An Overview of the Linux Operating System".Medium.Archivedfrom the original on June 12, 2020.RetrievedDecember 21,2019.
  16. ^DistroWatch."DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD".distrowatch.com.Archived fromthe originalon April 2, 2013.RetrievedDecember 30,2016.
  17. ^himanshu, Swapnil."Best Linux distros of 2016: Something for everyone".CIO.Archivedfrom the original on December 31, 2016.RetrievedFebruary 1,2022.
  18. ^"10 Top Most Popular Linux Distributions of 2016".www.tecmint.com.Archivedfrom the original on December 30, 2016.RetrievedDecember 30,2016.
  19. ^ab"GNU/Linux FAQ".Gnu.org.Archivedfrom the original on September 7, 2013.RetrievedSeptember 1,2013.
  20. ^ab"Linux and the GNU System".Gnu.org.Archivedfrom the original on March 19, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 1,2013.
  21. ^ab"What is Linux?".Opensource.com.Archivedfrom the original on May 13, 2020.RetrievedMay 12,2020.
  22. ^Barry Levine (August 26, 2013)."Linux' 22th [sic] Birthday Is Commemorated - Subtly - by Creator ".Simpler Media Group, Inc.Archivedfrom the original on May 18, 2015.RetrievedMay 10,2015.Originally developed for Intel x86-based PCs, Torvalds' "hobby" has now been released for more hardware platforms than any other OS in history.
  23. ^"Operating System Market Share Worldwide".StatCounter Global Stats.Archivedfrom the original on February 15, 2020.RetrievedOctober 18,2020.
  24. ^McPherson, Amanda (December 13, 2012)."What a Year for Linux: Please Join us in Celebration".Linux Foundation. Archived fromthe originalon April 17, 2014.RetrievedApril 16,2014.
  25. ^Linux Devices (November 28, 2006)."Trolltech rolls" complete "Linux smartphone stack".Archived fromthe originalon May 25, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 12,2017.
  26. ^ab"Desktop Operating System Market Share Worldwide".StatCounter Global Stats.Archivedfrom the original on March 21, 2024.RetrievedMarch 23,2024.
  27. ^Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols."Chromebook shipments leap by 67 percent".ZDNet.Archivedfrom the original on September 29, 2015.RetrievedSeptember 29,2015.
  28. ^"OS Market Share and Usage Trends".W3Cook.com.Archived fromthe originalon August 6, 2015.
  29. ^Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. (2017)."Linux totally dominates supercomputers".ZDNet (published November 14, 2017). Archived fromthe originalon November 14, 2017.RetrievedOctober 25,2018.
  30. ^Thibodeau, Patrick (2009)."IBM's newest mainframe is all Linux".Computerworld (published December 9, 2009). Archived fromthe originalon November 11, 2016.RetrievedFebruary 22,2009.
  31. ^abLyons, Daniel (March 15, 2005)."Linux rules supercomputers".Forbes.Archivedfrom the original on February 24, 2007.RetrievedFebruary 22,2007.
  32. ^IBM(October 2001)."Linux Watch (WatchPad)".Archivedfrom the original on June 18, 2015.RetrievedJune 18,2015.
  33. ^Eric Brown (March 29, 2019)."Linux continues advance in smart TV market".linuxgizmos.com.Archivedfrom the original on June 29, 2020.RetrievedMay 15,2020.
  34. ^"Sony Open Source Code Distribution Service".Sony Electronics. Archived fromthe originalon October 4, 2011.RetrievedOctober 8,2011.
  35. ^"Sharp Liquid Crystal Television Instruction Manual"(PDF).Sharp Electronics. p. 24. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on January 11, 2012.RetrievedOctober 8,2011.
  36. ^Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (January 4, 2019)."It's a Linux-powered car world".ZDNet.Archivedfrom the original on August 3, 2020.RetrievedMay 15,2020.
  37. ^"From Earth to orbit with Linux and SpaceX".ZDNet.Archivedfrom the original on August 3, 2020.RetrievedJune 6,2020.
  38. ^"Linux on Mars!".IT PRO.August 18, 2021.Archivedfrom the original on May 19, 2022.RetrievedJune 30,2022.
  39. ^"Linux kernel licensing rules".Linux kernel documentation.Archivedfrom the original on September 6, 2022.RetrievedJune 17,2022.
  40. ^Linux-syscall-noteonGitHub
  41. ^Ritchie, D.M. (October 1984), "The UNIX System: The Evolution of the UNIX Time-sharing System",AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal,63(8): 1577,doi:10.1002/j.1538-7305.1984.tb00054.x,S2CID571269,However, UNIX was born in 1969...
  42. ^Meeker, Heather (September 21, 2017)."Open source licensing: What every technologist should know".Opensource.com.Archivedfrom the original on September 24, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 24,2017.
  43. ^Michael Vetter (August 10, 2021).Acquisitions and Open Source Software Development.Springer Nature. p. 13.ISBN978-3-658-35084-0.Archivedfrom the original on August 5, 2022.RetrievedAugust 5,2022.
  44. ^Christopher Tozzi (August 11, 2017).For Fun and Profit: A History of the Free and Open Source Software Revolution.MIT Press. p. 52.ISBN978-0-262-03647-4.Archivedfrom the original on August 5, 2022.RetrievedAugust 5,2022.
  45. ^Eric, S. Raymond (October 1999).The Cathedral and the Bazaar.Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. p. 12.ISBN0-596-00108-8.Archivedfrom the original on July 18, 2022.RetrievedJuly 21,2022.In 1982, a group of Unix hackers from Stanford and Berkeley founded Sun Microsystems on the belief that Unix running on relatively inexpensive 68000-based hardware would prove a winning combination for a wide variety of applications. They were right, and their vision set the pattern for an entire industry. While still priced out of reach of most individuals, workstations were cheap for corporations and universities; networks of them (one to a user) rapidly replaced the older VAXes and other time-sharing systems
  46. ^Lazzareschi, Carla (January 31, 1988)."Sun Microsystems Is Blazing a Red-Hot Trail in Computers: $300-Million AT&T; Deal Moves Firm to Set Sights on IBM".Los Angeles Times.Archivedfrom the original on July 21, 2022.RetrievedJuly 21,2022.
  47. ^"About the GNU Project – Initial Announcement".Gnu.org. June 23, 2008.Archivedfrom the original on March 5, 2009.RetrievedMarch 9,2009.
  48. ^Christopher Tozzi (August 23, 2016)."Open Source History: Why Did Linux Succeed?".Archived fromthe originalon August 17, 2017.RetrievedAugust 17,2017.
  49. ^ab"MINIX is now available under the BSD license".minix1.woodhull.com.April 9, 2000.Archivedfrom the original on March 4, 2016.
  50. ^"Linus vs. Tanenbaum debate".Archived fromthe originalon October 3, 2012.RetrievedFebruary 19,2014.
  51. ^Linksvayer, Mike (1993)."The Choice of a GNU Generation – An Interview With Linus Torvalds".Meta magazine.Archivedfrom the original on February 25, 2009.RetrievedJanuary 20,2009.
  52. ^Moody, Glyn (August 1, 1997)."The Greatest OS That (N)ever Was".Wired.Archivedfrom the original on July 25, 2022.RetrievedJuly 20,2022.
  53. ^Torvalds, Linus."What would you like to see most in minix?".Newsgroup:comp.os.minix.Usenet:[email protected].Archivedfrom the original on May 9, 2013.RetrievedSeptember 9,2006.
  54. ^Torvalds, Linus; Diamond, David (2001).Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary.New York City:HarperCollins.pp. 78–80.ISBN0-06-662073-2.
  55. ^Linus Torvalds (October 14, 1992)."Chicken and egg: How was the first linux gcc binary created??".Newsgroup:comp.os.minix.Usenet:[email protected].Archivedfrom the original on May 9, 2013.RetrievedAugust 17,2013.
  56. ^Torvalds, Linus(January 5, 1992)."Release notes for Linux v0.12".Linux Kernel Archives. Archived fromthe originalon August 19, 2007.RetrievedJuly 23,2007.The Linux copyright will change: I've had a couple of requests to make it compatible with the GNU copyleft, removing the "you may not distribute it for money" condition. I agree. I propose that the copyright be changed so that it confirms to GNU ─ pending approval of the persons who have helped write code. I assume this is going to be no problem for anybody: If you have grievances ( "I wrote that code assuming the copyright would stay the same" ) mail me. Otherwise, The GNU copyleft takes effect since the first of February. If you do not know the gist of the GNU copyright ─ read it.
  57. ^"Overview of the GNU System".Gnu.org.Archivedfrom the original on February 28, 2009.RetrievedMarch 9,2009.
  58. ^abTorvalds, Linus and Diamond, David,Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary,2001,ISBN0-06-662072-4
  59. ^Torvalds, Linus (March 1994)."Index of /pub/linux/kernel/SillySounds".Archivedfrom the original on October 8, 2009.RetrievedAugust 3,2009.
  60. ^Garfinkel, Simson; Spafford, Gene; Schwartz, Alan (2003).Practical UNIX and Internet Security.O'Reilly. p. 21.
  61. ^Santhanam, Anand; Vishal Kulkarni (March 1, 2002)."Linux system development on an embedded device".DeveloperWorks.IBM. Archived fromthe originalon March 29, 2007.RetrievedJuly 26,2007.
  62. ^Galli, Peter (August 8, 2007)."Vista Aiding Linux Desktop, Strategist Says".eWEEK.Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc.Archivedfrom the original on July 9, 2009.RetrievedNovember 19,2007.
  63. ^Paul, Ryan (September 3, 2007)."Linux market share set to surpass Win 98, OS X still ahead of Vista".Ars Technica.Ars Technica, LLC.Archivedfrom the original on November 16, 2007.RetrievedNovember 19,2007.
  64. ^Beer, Stan (January 23, 2007)."Vista to play second fiddle to XP until 2009: Gartner".iTWire.Archived fromthe originalon December 3, 2008.RetrievedNovember 19,2007.
  65. ^"Operating System Marketshare for Year 2007".Market Share.Net Applications. November 19, 2007.Archivedfrom the original on June 24, 2013.RetrievedNovember 19,2007.
  66. ^"Vista slowly continues its growth; Linux more aggressive than Mac OS during the summer".XiTiMonitor.AT Internet/XiTi.com. September 24, 2007. Archived fromthe originalon December 14, 2007.RetrievedNovember 19,2007.
  67. ^"Global Web Stats".W3Counter.Awio Web Services LLC. November 10, 2007.Archivedfrom the original on June 28, 2012.RetrievedNovember 19,2007.
  68. ^"June 2004 Zeitgeist".Google Press Center.Google Inc. August 12, 2004.Archivedfrom the original on July 11, 2011.RetrievedNovember 19,2007.
  69. ^McMillan, Robert (October 10, 2003)."IBM, Brazilian government launch Linux effort".www.infoworld.com.IDG News Service.Archivedfrom the original on March 15, 2015.RetrievedFebruary 16,2015.
  70. ^"About Us - The Linux Foundation".Archivedfrom the original on October 28, 2018.RetrievedOctober 1,2018.
  71. ^"Staff and Board — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software".Free Software Foundation.Archived fromthe originalon November 21, 2023.RetrievedNovember 22,2023.
  72. ^"Free software is a matter of liberty, not price — Free Software Foundation — working together for free software".Fsf.org. Archived fromthe originalon July 14, 2012.RetrievedJuly 12,2012.
  73. ^Email correspondence on the Linux Kernel development mailing listLinus Torvalds (November 30, 2001)."Re: Coding style, a non-issue".kernel.org.Archivedfrom the original on August 12, 2021.RetrievedAugust 10,2020.
  74. ^Raymond, Eric S. (2001). O'Reilly, Tim (ed.).The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary(Second ed.). O'Reilly & Associates. p. 16.ISBN0-596-00108-8.
  75. ^"You have to design it youcannot asymptotically reachSecurity. "Cantrill 2017
  76. ^The Cantrill Strikes Back | BSD Now 117.Jupiter Broadcasting.November 26, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on December 14, 2020.RetrievedSeptember 7,2021– viaYouTube.
  77. ^"Why is Linux called a monolithic kernel?".stackoverflow.com. 2009.Archivedfrom the original on October 17, 2013.RetrievedOctober 16,2013.
  78. ^ab"Anatomy of a Linux System"(PDF).O'Reilly. July 23–26, 2001.Archived(PDF)from the original on September 4, 2019.RetrievedOctober 10,2018.
  79. ^"Admin Guide README".Kernel.org git repositories.
  80. ^M. Tim Jones (May 31, 2006)."Inside the Linux boot process".IBM Developer Works. Archived fromthe originalon October 17, 2013.RetrievedOctober 16,2013.
  81. ^Jake Edge (June 8, 2013)."The Wayland Situation: Facts About X vs. Wayland (Phoronix)".LWN.net.Archivedfrom the original on October 22, 2013.RetrievedOctober 11,2013.
  82. ^Miller, Matthew (May 6, 2022)."Announcing Fedora 36".Archivedfrom the original on August 2, 2022.RetrievedOctober 28,2022.
  83. ^Leiva-Gomez, Miguel (May 18, 2023)."What Is Wayland and What Does It Mean for Linux Users?".www.maketecheasier.com.Archivedfrom the original on January 27, 2021.RetrievedJune 18,2024.
  84. ^"Linux TV: Television with Linux".linuxtv.org.Archivedfrom the original on November 6, 2013.RetrievedOctober 16,2013.
  85. ^Jonathan Corbet (October 11, 2006)."The Video4Linux2 API: an introduction".LWN.net.Archivedfrom the original on October 7, 2013.RetrievedOctober 16,2013.
  86. ^"Part I. Video for Linux Two API Specification".Chapter 7. Changes.linuxtv.org. Archived fromthe originalon October 17, 2013.RetrievedOctober 16,2013.
  87. ^Operating System Market Share (November 2009)."Operating System Market Share".Archivedfrom the original on January 25, 2010.RetrievedDecember 11,2009.
  88. ^"What is Copyleft? - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation".www.gnu.org.Archivedfrom the original on October 6, 2015.RetrievedMay 12,2020.
  89. ^"POSIX.1 (FIPS 151-2) Certification".Archivedfrom the original on February 26, 2012.
  90. ^"How source code compatible is Debian with other Unix systems?".Debian FAQ.the Debian project.Archivedfrom the original on October 16, 2011.
  91. ^Eissfeldt, Heiko (August 1, 1996)."Certifying Linux".Linux Journal. Archived fromthe originalon April 4, 2016.
  92. ^"The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ – Compatibility issues".Archived fromthe originalon October 10, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 17,2011.
  93. ^comments, 26 Jul 2018 Steve OvensFeed 151up 9."The evolution of package managers".Opensource.com.Archivedfrom the original on July 26, 2018.RetrievedMay 12,2020.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  94. ^"Get Fedora".getfedora.org.Archivedfrom the original on July 11, 2020.RetrievedFebruary 24,2020.
  95. ^design, Cynthia Sanchez: front-end and UI, Zvezdana Marjanovic: graphic."The makers' choice for sysadmins, developers and desktop users".openSUSE.Archivedfrom the original on August 5, 2005.RetrievedFebruary 24,2020.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  96. ^Linux Format."Linux Format DVD contents".Archived fromthe originalon August 8, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 17,2008.
  97. ^linux-magazine.com."Current Issue".Archived fromthe originalon January 10, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 17,2008.
  98. ^ab"State of Linux Kernel Development 2017".Linux Foundation.Archivedfrom the original on November 14, 2021.RetrievedNovember 14,2021.
  99. ^"gfortran — the GNU Fortran compiler, part of GCC".GNU GCC.Archivedfrom the original on April 18, 2020.RetrievedMay 3,2020.
  100. ^Brockmeier, Joe."A survey of Linux Web development tools".Archived fromthe originalon October 19, 2006.RetrievedDecember 16,2006.
  101. ^Das, Ankush (January 21, 2021)."Finally! Linux Runs Gracefully On Apple M1 Chip".It's FOSS News.Archivedfrom the original on November 13, 2021.RetrievedNovember 13,2021.
  102. ^Jimenez, Jorge (October 8, 2021)."Developers finally get Linux running on an Apple M1-powered Mac".PC Gamer.Archivedfrom the original on January 11, 2023.RetrievedNovember 13,2021.
  103. ^Proven, Liam (November 10, 2022)."OpenPrinting keeps old printers working, even on Windows".The Register.Archivedfrom the original on January 7, 2023.RetrievedJanuary 7,2023.
  104. ^Bruce Byfield (August 14, 2007)."Is my hardware Linux-compatible? Find out here".Linux.com.Archivedfrom the original on September 5, 2015.RetrievedSeptember 4,2015.
  105. ^"Linux Hardware".Linux Hardware Project.Archivedfrom the original on January 26, 2021.RetrievedJune 26,2020.
  106. ^Wheeler, David A."Why Open Source Software/Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!".Archivedfrom the original on April 5, 2006.RetrievedApril 1,2006.
  107. ^"Linux Operating System Market Size, Share and Forecast [2020-2027]".www.fortunebusinessinsights.com.Archivedfrom the original on November 12, 2021.RetrievedNovember 12,2021.
  108. ^"Linux Operating System Market Size, Share, Trends 2024-2032".www.expertmarketresearch.com.Archivedfrom the original on February 3, 2023.RetrievedDecember 25,2023.
  109. ^"The rise and rise of Linux".Computer Associates International. October 10, 2005. Archived fromthe originalon February 17, 2007.
  110. ^Jeffrey S. Smith."Why customers are flocking to Linux".IBM. Archived fromthe originalon June 3, 2008.
  111. ^"W3Cook FAQ".W3Cook.com.Archived fromthe originalon June 27, 2015.RetrievedJune 30,2015.
  112. ^"OS Market Share and Usage Trends".W3Cook.com.Archived fromthe originalon August 6, 2015.RetrievedJune 30,2015.
  113. ^"Technologies Overview - methodology information".W3Techs.RetrievedJune 30,2015.
  114. ^"Linux vs. Windows usage statistics, November 2021".W3Techs.Archivedfrom the original on March 30, 2022.RetrievedNovember 14,2021.
  115. ^"Usage Statistics and Market Share of Unix for Websites, November 2021".W3Techs.Archivedfrom the original on September 25, 2021.RetrievedNovember 14,2021.
  116. ^"─ IDC Q1 2007 report".Linux-watch.com. May 29, 2007. Archived fromthe originalon April 1, 2021.RetrievedMarch 9,2009.
  117. ^"Mobile Operating System Market Share Worldwide".StatCounter Global Stats.Archivedfrom the original on October 11, 2020.RetrievedMay 30,2023.
  118. ^Egham (March 3, 2014)."Gartner Says Worldwide Tablet Sales Grew 68 Percent in 2013, With Android Capturing 62 Percent of the Market".Archived fromthe originalon April 17, 2014.RetrievedJune 13,2014.
  119. ^"Mobile/Tablet Operating System Market Share".Netmarketshare.com.Archivedfrom the original on June 28, 2021.RetrievedOctober 14,2021.
  120. ^Strauss, Daryll."Linux Helps Bring Titanic to Life".Archived fromthe originalon January 12, 2012.RetrievedJuly 28,2011.
  121. ^Rowe, Robin."Linux and Star Trek".Archived fromthe originalon July 12, 2011.RetrievedJuly 28,2011.
  122. ^"Industry of Change: Linux Storms Hollywood".Archived fromthe originalon April 11, 2009.RetrievedMarch 11,2009.
  123. ^"Tux with Shades, Linux in Hollywood".Archivedfrom the original on January 11, 2023.RetrievedMarch 11,2009.
  124. ^"Weta Digital – Jobs".Archived fromthe originalon December 30, 2010.RetrievedNovember 17,2010.
  125. ^"LinuxMovies.org – Advancing Linux Motion Picture Technology".Archived fromthe originalon March 1, 2012.RetrievedMarch 16,2012.
  126. ^"LV: Minister:" Open standards improve efficiency and transparency "".Archivedfrom the original on August 9, 2011.RetrievedFebruary 21,2009.
  127. ^"Linux Spreads its Wings in India".Archived fromthe originalon July 28, 2011.RetrievedFebruary 21,2009.
  128. ^"Kerala shuts windows, schools to use only Linux".March 4, 2008.Archivedfrom the original on May 15, 2011.RetrievedJune 22,2009.
  129. ^"China's Microprocessor Dilemma".Microprocessor Report.Archived fromthe originalon September 18, 2009.RetrievedApril 15,2009.
  130. ^Krane, Jim (November 30, 2001)."Some countries are choosing Linux systems over Microsoft".Seattle Post-Intelligencer.Archivedfrom the original on March 15, 2012.RetrievedFebruary 21,2009.
  131. ^"North Korea's 'paranoid' computer operating system revealed".The Guardian.December 27, 2015.Archivedfrom the original on December 31, 2015.RetrievedDecember 31,2015.
  132. ^"GNU General Public License, version 2".GNU Project. June 2, 1991.Archivedfrom the original on December 7, 2013.RetrievedDecember 5,2013.
  133. ^Torvalds, Linus (January 26, 2006)."Re: GPL V3 and Linux ─ Dead Copyright Holders".Linux Kernel Mailing List.Archivedfrom the original on July 9, 2014.
  134. ^Torvalds, Linus (September 25, 2006)."Re: GPLv3 Position Statement".Linux Kernel Mailing List.Archivedfrom the original on April 22, 2014.
  135. ^Brett Smith (July 29, 2013)."Neutralizing Laws That Prohibit Free Software — But Not Forbidding DRM".A Quick Guide to GPLv3.GNU Project.Archivedfrom the original on December 1, 2013.RetrievedDecember 5,2013.
  136. ^"Keeping an Eye on the Penguin".Linux-watch.com. February 7, 2006. Archived fromthe originalon January 3, 2013.RetrievedNovember 9,2010.
  137. ^abcWheeler, David A (July 29, 2002)."More Than a Gigabuck: Estimating GNU/Linux's Size".Archived fromthe originalon April 21, 2006.RetrievedMay 11,2006.
  138. ^abJohnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023)."What Was the U.S. GDP Then?".MeasuringWorth.RetrievedNovember 30,2023.United StatesGross Domestic Product deflatorfigures follow theMeasuringWorthseries.
  139. ^Amor, Juan José; et al. (June 17, 2007)."Measuring Etch: the size of Debian 4.0".Archivedfrom the original on July 28, 2014.RetrievedSeptember 16,2007.
  140. ^Stahe, Sylviu (June 19, 2015)."There Is a Linux Detergent Out There and It's Trademarked".Softpedia.Archivedfrom the original on June 22, 2015.RetrievedAugust 15,2024.
  141. ^"Linux Timeline".Linux Journal. May 31, 2006.Archivedfrom the original on February 3, 2013.
  142. ^Neil McAllister (September 5, 2005)."Linus gets tough on Linux trademark".InfoWorld.Archived fromthe originalon April 12, 2008.RetrievedFebruary 24,2008.
  143. ^"Linux Mark Institute".Archivedfrom the original on February 13, 2008.RetrievedFebruary 24,2008.LMI has restructured its sublicensing program. Our new sublicense agreement is: Free – approved sublicense holders pay no fees; Perpetual – sublicense terminates only in breach of the agreement or when your organization ceases to use its mark; Worldwide – one sublicense covers your use of the mark anywhere in the world
  144. ^Richard Stallman (April 28, 1996)."The FSF is no longer sponsoring Debian".tech-insider.org.Archivedfrom the original on February 21, 2014.RetrievedFebruary 8,2014.
  145. ^"TiVo ─ GNU/Linux Source Code".Archived fromthe originalon May 19, 2007.RetrievedDecember 12,2006.
  146. ^"About Debian".debian.org. December 8, 2013.Archivedfrom the original on January 23, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 30,2014.
  147. ^Andrew D. Balsa; et al. (October 17, 2009)."The linux-kernel mailing list FAQ".vger.kernel.org.Archivedfrom the original on October 1, 2012.RetrievedJune 13,2013....we have tried to use the word "Linux" or the expression "Linux kernel" to designate the kernel, and GNU/Linux to designate the entire body of GNU/GPL'ed OS software,......many people forget that the linux kernel mailing list is a forum for discussion of kernel-related matters, not GNU/Linux in general...
  148. ^Côrte-Real, Pedro (May 31, 2011)."How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux?".Split Perspective.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 28,2014.(self-publisheddata)
edit