The Linux Portal
Linux (/ˈlɪnʊks/ LIN-uuks) is a family of free and open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, which was first released on 17 September 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Some members of the family are typically packaged as a distribution (a.k.a. distro), which includes the kernel alongside supporting system software and libraries developed by third parties—such as GNU, Red Hat, and X.Org—to create a complete operating system; however, not all Linux-based operating systems are considered distros, with Android being an example. Linux was originally designed as a clone of Unix and is distributed under the copyleft GPL license.
Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open-source software collaboration. The Linux kernel is considered by many to be the largest open source project. While originally developed for x86-based personal computers, it has since been ported to more platforms than any other operating system, and is used on a wide variety of devices including PCs, workstations, mainframes, and embedded systems. Linux is the predominant operating system for servers and is also used on all of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers. When combined with Android, which uses a Linux-based kernel and is designed for smartphones, they have the largest installed base of all general-purpose operating systems. (Full article...)
Selected articles -
Linux Mint is a community-developed Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. First released in 2006, Linux Mint is often noted for its ease of use, out-of-the-box functionality, and appeal to desktop users. It comes bundled with a selection of free and open-source software. The default desktop environment is Cinnamon, developed by the Linux Mint team, with MATE and Xfce available as alternatives. A Debian based version of Linux Mint also exists, called Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). Linux Mint is available for x86-64 systems. (Full article...)
A screenshot of Debian 10 (Buster) with the GNOME desktop environment version 3
Debian releases do not follow a fixed schedule. Recent releases have been made around every two years by the Debian Project. The most recent version of Debian is Debian version 13, codename "Trixie". The next up and coming release of Debian is Debian 14, codename "Forky".
Debian always has at least three active branches at any time: "stable", "testing" and "unstable". The stable branch is considered the primary release and what most people refer to when talking about Debian. The testing branch contains packages that have been imported from unstable. Testing has significantly more up-to-date packages than stable and is frozen some time before a release to become the next version of Debian. The unstable release (also known as Sid) is the branch where active development takes place. It is the most volatile version of Debian. (Full article...)
An example of LSB output in a terminal (Debian version 11)
The Linux Standard Base (LSB) was a joint project by several Linux distributions[which?] under the organizational structure of the Linux Foundation to standardize the software system structure, including the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. LSB was based on the POSIX specification, the Single UNIX Specification (SUS), and several other open standards, but extended them in certain areas.
According to LSB:
(Full article...)
The goal of the LSB is to develop and promote a set of open standards that will increase compatibility among Linux distributions and enable software applications to run on any compliant system even in binary form. In addition, the LSB will help coordinate efforts to recruit software vendors to port and write products for Linux Operating Systems.- Linux on IBM Z, Linux on zSystems, or zLinux is the collective term for the Linux operating system compiled to run on IBM mainframes, especially IBM Z, zSystems, and LinuxONE servers. Similar terms which imply the same meaning are Linux/390, Linux/390x, etc. The three Linux distributions certified for usage on the IBM Z hardware platform are Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Ubuntu. (Full article...)
- deepin (Chinese: 深度操作系统; pinyin: Shēndù Cāozuò-xìtǒng; formerly known as Linux Deepin and Hiweed Linux) is a Linux distribution, formerly based on Ubuntu and Debian,[better source needed] that features the Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE), a desktop environment built on Qt and available for a variety of distributions. The Deepin userbase is predominantly Chinese, though DDE is in most prominent Linux distributions' repositories as an alternative desktop environment. The company behind the development, Deepin Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of UnionTech (统信软件), is based in Wuhan, China. (Full article...)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is a commercial Linux distribution developed by Red Hat. 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...)
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 accounts for more than 72% of mobile device usage globally (as of 2024-2025), and while Linux is used on the New York Stock Exchange, on most supercomputers, is used to host 96.3 percent of the top 1 million web servers, and even is used on more virtual machines on Microsoft's own Azure cloud service than Microsoft Windows, 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 some controversy with the project's perspective on security and the adoption of systemd by leading Linux distributions (Full article...)
Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a Linux kernel security module that provides a mechanism for supporting access control security policies, including mandatory access controls (MAC).
SELinux is a set of kernel modifications and user-space tools that have been added to various Linux distributions. Its architecture strives to separate enforcement of security decisions from the security policy, and streamlines the amount of software involved with security policy enforcement. The key concepts underlying SELinux can be traced to several earlier projects by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). (Full article...)
Asahi Linux is a project that ports the Linux kernel and related software to Apple Silicon-powered Macs, started by Hector Martin. It does so by reverse-engineering the SoCs, which lack official, publicly available documentation from Apple. (Full article...)
Ubuntu, one of the most popular desktop Linux distributions
A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is often obtained via a website intended specifically for the purpose. Distros have been designed for a wide variety of systems ranging from personal computers (for example, Linux Mint and Zorin OS) to servers (for example, Red Hat Enterprise Linux) and from embedded devices (for example, OpenWrt) to supercomputers (for example, Rocks Cluster Distribution).
A distro typically includes many components in addition to the Linux kernel. Commonly, it includes a package manager, an init system (such as systemd, OpenRC, SysVinit, or runit), GNU tools and libraries, documentation, IP network configuration utilities, the getty TTY setup program, and many more. Programs used to provide a desktop experience (most commonly the Mesa userspace graphics drivers), a display server (the most common being the X.org Server, or, more recently, a Wayland compositor such as Sway, KDE's KWin, or GNOME's Mutter), a desktop environment (most commonly GNOME, KDE Plasma, Cinnamon (desktop environment) or Xfce), a sound server (usually either PulseAudio or more recently PipeWire), and other related programs may be included or installed by the user. (Full article...)
CentOS (/ˈsɛntɒs/, from Community Enterprise Operating System; also known as CentOS Linux) is a discontinued Linux distribution that provided a free and open-source community-supported computing platform, functionally compatible with its upstream source, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). In January 2014, CentOS announced the official joining with Red Hat while staying independent from RHEL, under a new CentOS governing board.
The first CentOS release in May 2004, numbered as CentOS version 2, was forked from RHEL version 2.1AS. Since version 8, CentOS officially supports the x86-64, ARM64, and POWER8 architectures, and releases up to version 6 also supported the IA-32 architecture. As of December 2015[update], AltArch releases of CentOS 7 are available for the IA-32 architecture, Power ISA, and for the ARMv7hl and AArch64 variants of the ARM architecture. CentOS 8 was released on 24 September 2019. (Full article...)- This article documents the version history of the Linux kernel, a free, open-source, and Unix-like kernel that is used on many computer systems worldwide.
Since the Linux kernel's creation by Linus Torvalds in 1991, it grew rapidly as many developers contributed to the project. (Full article...) - ext4 (fourth extended filesystem) is a journaling file system for Linux, developed as the successor to ext3.
ext4 was initially a series of backward-compatible extensions to ext3, many of them originally developed by Cluster File Systems for the Lustre file system between 2003 and 2006, meant to extend storage limits and add other performance improvements. However, other Linux kernel developers opposed accepting extensions to ext3 for stability reasons, and proposed to fork the source code of ext3, rename it as ext4, and perform all the development there, without affecting existing ext3 users. This proposal was accepted, and on 28 June 2006, Theodore Ts'o, the ext3 maintainer, announced the new plan of development for ext4. (Full article...) 
Kali Linux is a Linux distribution designed for digital forensics and penetration testing. It is maintained and funded by Offensive Security. The software is based on the testing branch of the Debian Linux Distribution: most packages Kali uses are imported from the Debian repositories. Kali Linux has gained popularity in the cybersecurity community due to its comprehensive set of tools designed for penetration testing, vulnerability analysis, and reverse engineering.
It was developed by Mati Aharoni and Devon Kearns of Offensive Security through the rewrite of BackTrack, their previous information security testing Linux distribution based on Knoppix. (Full article...)- Tux Racer is a 2000 open-source winter sports racing video game starring the Linux mascot, Tux the penguin. It was originally developed by Jasmin Patry as a computer graphics project at the University of Waterloo. Later on, Patry and the newly founded Sunspire Studios, composed of several former students of the university, expanded it. In the game, the player controls Tux as he slides down a course of snow and ice collecting herrings.
Tux Racer was officially downloaded over one million times as of October 2001. It also was well received, often being acclaimed for the graphics, fast-paced gameplay, and replayability, and was a fan favorite among Linux users and the free software community. The game's popularity secured the development of a proprietized release that included enhanced graphics and multiplayer, and it also became the first GPL-licensed game to receive an arcade adaptation. It is the only product that Sunspire Studios developed and released, after which the company liquidated. (Full article...)
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Release news
- 2025-04-28 Fedora Linux 44 released.
- 2026-04-23 Ubuntu 26.04 LTS "Resolute Raccoon" released.
- 2026-04-12 Linux kernel 7.0 released.
- 2026-03-18 GNOME 50 released. (announcement)
- 2026-02-08 Linux kernel 6.19 released.
- 2025-11-30 Linux kernel 6.18 released.
- 2025-10-28 Fedora Linux 43 released.
- 2025-10-09 Ubuntu 25.10 "Questing Quokka" released.
- 2025-10-01 openSUSE Leap 16 released.
- 2025-09-28 Linux kernel 6.17 released.
- 2025-09-17 GNOME 49 released. (announcement)
- 2025-08-09 Debian 13 "Trixie" released.
- 2025-07-27 Linux kernel 6.16 released.
- 2025-05-25 Linux kernel 6.15 released.
- 2025-05-13 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 released.
- 2025-04-17 Ubuntu 25.04 "Plucky Puffin" released.
- 2025-04-15 Fedora Linux 42 released.
- 2025-03-24 Linux kernel 6.14 released.
- 2025-03-19 GNOME 48 released. (announcement)
- 2025-02-11 KDE Plasma 6.3 released.
- 2025-01-19 Linux kernel 6.13 released.
- 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
The Linux graphic stack: DRM, KMS driver and Mesa 3D or proprietary drivers like e.g. AMD Catalyst.
Related portals
Selected biographies -
- Con Kolivas is a Greek-Australian anaesthetist. He has worked as a computer programmer on the Linux kernel and on the development of the cryptographic currency mining software CGMiner. His Linux contributions include patches for the kernel to improve its desktop performance, particularly reducing I/O impact. (Full article...)
Bradley M. Kühn (born 1973; previously spelled Kuhn) is a free software activist from the United States.
Kühn is currently Policy Fellow and Hacker-in-Residence of the Software Freedom Conservancy, having previously been executive director. Until 2010 he was the FLOSS Community Liaison and Technology Director of the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC). He previously served as the Executive Director of Free Software Foundation (FSF) from 2001 until March 2005. He served on the FSF's board of directors from March 2010 until October 2019. (Full article...)
Hans Peter Anvin (born 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...)
Rusty Russell is an Australian free software programmer and advocate, known for his work on the Linux kernel's networking subsystem and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. (Full article...)
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...)
Jane Silber is a board member of Canonical Ltd. and was its chief executive officer from 2010 to 2017.
Silber is also the chair of the board of Diffblue (whose products include Cover, an AI-driven unit test-writing tool).
Silber joined Canonical in July 2004, where her work has included leading the Ubuntu One project and ensuring that large organizations find Ubuntu "enterprise-ready".
She partially attributes the increasing attention to user research and design in open source since 2009 to Canonical's leadership in this area.
Silber announced her transition out of the CEO role in April 2017, with Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth resuming the position from July 2017. (Full article...)
Harald Welte, also known as LaForge, is a German programmer.
Welte is the founder of the free software project Osmocom and was formerly involved in the netfilter/iptables and Openmoko projects. He is a member of the Chaos Computer Club. (Full article...)
Linus Benedict Torvalds (born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish and American software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel since 1991. He also created the distributed version control system Git.
Torvalds was one of the recipients of the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize "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...)
Alan Cox (born 22 July 1968) is a British computer programmer who has been a key figure in the development of Linux. He maintained the 2.2 branch of the Linux kernel and was heavily involved in its development, an association that dates back to 1991. He lives in Swansea, Wales, where he lived with his wife Telsa Gwynne, who died in 2015, and now lives with author Tara Neale, whom he married in 2020. He graduated with a BSc in Computer Science from Swansea University in 1991 and received an MBA from the same university in 2005.
Prior to his Linux work, Cox developed some video games for home computers, such as the text adventure Blizzard Pass. (Full article...)
Michael Kerrisk is a technical author, programmer and, since 2004, maintainer of the Linux man-pages project, succeeding Andries Brouwer. He was born in 1961 in New Zealand and lives in Munich, Germany.
Kerrisk has worked for Digital Equipment, Google, The Linux Foundation and, as an editor and writer, for LWN.net. Currently, he works as a freelance consultant and trainer. (Full article...)- Andries Evert Brouwer (born 1951) is a Dutch mathematician and computer programmer, Professor Emeritus at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He is known as the creator of the greatly expanded 1984 to 1985 versions of the roguelike computer game Hack that formed the basis for NetHack. He is also a Linux kernel hacker. He is sometimes referred to by the handle aeb. (Full article...)
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...)
Benjamin at Software Freedom Day, 2010
Donna Benjamin is an Australian open source community contributor, commentator and advocate. Recognised for her leadership and advocacy in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement, Benjamin has contributed to the development of open source communities in Australia and internationally.
Benjamin was the lead organiser of the volunteer run linux.conf.au conference in Melbourne in 2008. She regularly ran the Community Leadership Summit X at LCA (clsXlca), a workshop focussing on community development in open source projects, as well as community summits at DrupalCon. (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...)
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...)
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General images -
The following are images from various Linux-related articles on Wikipedia.
Boot messages of a Linux kernel 2.6.25.17 (from Linux kernel)
Sankey diagram of Linux Kernel Source Lines of Code (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)![Image 6Ubuntu family tree[dubious – discuss] (from Ubuntu)](http://wiki.nitrosworld.org/proxy-img/http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F7%2F79%2FUbuntuFamilyTree1210.svg%2F120px-UbuntuFamilyTree1210.svg.png)
Linux kernel panic output (from Linux kernel)
Package installed with Aptitude (from Debian)
Four interfaces are distinguished: two internal to the kernel, and two between the kernel and userspace. (from Linux kernel)
Redevelopment costs of Linux kernel (from Linux kernel)
Fedora 21, a version that brought experimental Wayland and HiDPI support (December 2014) (from Fedora Linux)
The core values of the Fedora community (from Fedora Linux)
Fedora Workstation 41 with its default applications (from Fedora Linux)
The Linux Storage Stack Diagram (from Linux kernel)
The Linux kernel supports various hardware architectures, providing a common platform for software, including proprietary software. (from Linux kernel)
Screenshot of GDebi Package installer (from Debian)
Cloud Ubuntu Orange Box
Logo of GNU Hurd (from Debian)
Map of the Linux kernel (from Linux kernel)
Linus Torvalds at the LinuxCon Europe 2014 (from Linux kernel)
A fresh install of Silverblue 41 (from Fedora Linux)
Eucalyptus interface (from Ubuntu)
The official logo (also known as open use logo) that contains the well-known Debian swirl (from Debian)
alt=UbuntuDDE logo (from Ubuntu)
A Debian 10 Buster box cover (from Debian)
alt=Ubuntu Sway logo (from Ubuntu)
Fedora with the KDE Plasma Desktop, one of the several official Fedora Spins. As of Fedora 42, it became an official Fedora edition alongside Fedora Workstation with GNOME. (from Fedora Linux)
Logo of Debian GNU/kFreeBSD (from Debian)
Debian 4 (Etch), 2007 (from Debian)
Debian 12 installation menu (UEFI Mode) (from Debian)
Debian 6 (Squeeze), 2011 (from Debian)
![Image 6Ubuntu family tree[dubious – discuss] (from Ubuntu)](http://wiki.nitrosworld.org/wiki/File:UbuntuFamilyTree1210.svg)
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Did you know?
- ... that researchers submitting to the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy intentionally introduced security bugs into Linux?
- ... that Shuah Khan, the first woman fellow of the Linux Foundation, "signed off" on a patch recommending the use of inclusive terminology in the Linux kernel?
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