The various different brands of linux are generally known as linux distributions usually shortened to linux distros by linux experts. When people speak of the linux kernel, they are typically specific and say the linux kernel. Libranet omoikane arma quantian damn vulnerable linux damn small linux knoppmyth danix parsix auditor security linux backtrack kali kanotix b2d whoppix whax symphony os neodizinha patinho faminto musix parallelknoppix kaella max feather medialinux mediainlinux artistx insert aquamorph dreamlinux hiwix hiweed deepin shift linux zonecd morphix kalango dizinha poseidon kurumin knoppix skolelinux. Build system for firmware images, the collection of recipes is based on gnu make. Linux os distributions timeline timetoast timelines. Libranet omoikane arma quantian damn vulnerable linux damn small linux knoppmyth danix parsix auditor security linux backtrack kali kanotix b2d whoppix whax symphony os neodizinha patinho faminto musix parallelknoppix kaella max feather medialinux mediainlinux artistx insert aquamorph dreamlinux hiwix hiweed deepin shift linux zonecd morphix kalango dizinha poseidon kurumin. He talked about developing a free operating system which in his words were. For years, proprietary software bitkeeper was used for version control in linux kernel development. I found this illustration for debian linux distribution.
A quick online search result into interesting set of information. Valve released steamos, a gaming operating system based on the linux distribution debian, on december, 20. However, i need data for plain linux kernel, not debian linux. Ever since, the fortunes of our magazine have followed those of.
The linux kernel is combined with gnu to create the free gnu linux operating system, which many refer to as simply linux. Many linux distributions provide their own longterm maintenance kernels that may or may not be based on those maintained by kernel developers. With all the politics involved, not many people are happy with. We present you with the most complete historical timeline of linux. Caldera announces that they are changing their name to the sco group and are going to concentrate on unix development. Linux began in 1991 as a personal project by finnish student linus torvalds. In this article, you explore the general structure of the linux kernel and get to know its major subsystems and core interfaces.
The berkeley software distribution bsd was an operating system based on research unix, developed and distributed by the computer systems research group csrg at the university of california, berkeley. History of unix, linux, and open source free software. In 1989 as part of the gnu project, richard stallman creates the gpl general public license. The license model gpl that linux underlies, offers to the developer extensive liberties and spreads transfers of technology because the knowledge is open. Linus torvalds and linux timeline timetoast timelines. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one of the linux distributions, which are available for a wide variety of systems ranging from embedded devices for example, openwrt and personal.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. In 1992, he released the kernel under gnu general public license. Adblock detected my website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to my visitors. In terms of the history of linux, ubuntu is something of a newcomer. An almost complete reconstruction of all the released linux kernels has been done. Linux, being the operating system, is the intermediary between hardware and software. It has been suggested that list of linux kernel names be merged into this article.
Linux kernel the nucleus of the linux operating system. Many linux distributions provide an installation system akin to that provided with other modern operating systems. This is a copyleft license that allows anyone to download, alter, and distribute software with the gpl license. Linux timeline and bsd timeline by andreas lundqvist and donjan rodic, continued by fabio loli. There are 1,549 octopus merges, one of which has 66 parents. Linux kernel history and distribution time line nixcraft. He maintains it should be called gnu linux, as he sees distributions as the linux kernel plus the additional software from the gnu project. Red hat also has a relationship with the centos project, another popular linux distribution for web servers. These are known as linux operating systems the linux kernel is released with the gnu general public license version 2 gplv2 and developed by programmers worldwide. Today, supercomputers, smart phones, desktop, web servers, tablet, laptops and home appliances like washing machines, dvd players, routers, modems, cars, refrigerators, etc use linux os.
A linux distribution often abbreviated as distro is an operating system made from a software collection that is based upon the linux kernel and, often, a package management system. The linux kernel is the core of a large and complex operating system, and while its huge, it is well organized in terms of subsystems and layers. Os is just kernel and shell which work hand in hand distro is combination of customized shells working on a kernel. Even though most people have heard of linux, they still associate it primarily with various operating system distributions built around it. Jun 05, 2007 i was just answering a question on our forum.
Linux journal celebrated the publication of its 100th issue in 2002 with the release of the linux timeline. Since the initial release of its source code in 1991, it has grown from a small number of c files under a license prohibiting commercial distribution to the 4. Jan 11, 2011 ubuntu linux is one of a number of different flavors of the linux operating system. I would love if someone could precisely spell dates of introduction of each architecture x86, alpha, sparc, arm, etc. What could be described as the first linux distribution, called mcc interim linux is released by the university of manchester. Linux operating system timeline created by ashleywestbrook. Whats the relationship between a linux os and a kernel.
Linux operating system timeline timetoast timelines. Timeline of the most important events in 25 years of linux its foss. It runs on a variety of architectures including x86, arm, mips, powerpc and others. Richard stallman expresses interest in having the free software foundation distribute a gnu system with the linux kernel. A gnulinux distribution is usually formed by the linux kernel, gnu tools and. Rhel is one of the few linux distributions that changed linux forever. See the 25 years of linux kernel development infographic. The linux kernel archive mirror system is established to better get new kernels out to the world. Linux has evolved from a hobby into a computing revolution.
In 1991, linus torvalds created the linux kernel based on minix, a version of unix written by andrew tanenbaum. I am either talking about the kernel linux, or linux distributions, or a specific distribution. It is easy to tell if you are running a distribution kernel. Continue reading linux kernel history and distribution time line. It is hard to keep the site running and producing new content when so many people block ads. Red hat uses trademark law to prevent their official red hat enterprise linux software from being redistributed.
The resulting linux kernel has been marked by constant growth throughout its history. A complete historical timeline of linux evolution linksprite. Summary of the changes and new features merged in the linux kernel during the 2. This means,for examplekali,ubuntu,fedora,mint etc are different distros which work on linux kernel shell acts as an interface between the user and the kernel. A complete historical timeline of linux evolution linux is everywhere, at home, offices, colleges, labs and space stations. Linux, computer operating system created in the early 1990s by finnish software engineer linus torvalds and the free software foundation fsf. The linux kernel is combined with gnu to create the free gnulinux operating system, which many refer to as simply linux. It is deployed on a wide variety of computing systems, from personal computers, mobile devices, mainframes, and supercomputer to embedded devices, such as routers, wireless access points, private branch exchanges, settop boxes, fta receivers, smart tvs, personal video recorders, and nas appliances. While still a student at the university of helsinki, torvalds started developing linux to create a system similar to minix, a unix operating system. On 25 august 1991, 21 years old student of helsinki university sent a mail to a newsgroup on usenet.
As shown in the timeline, the first issue of linux journal coincided with the release of linux 1. The linux kernel is a free and opensource, monolithic, unixlike operating system kernel. The linux kernel was relicensed under the gnu gpl with the v0. This guide was created as an overview of the linux operating system, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
The emergence of linux has revolutionized the history of free software and helped to popularize it. May 31, 2006 linux journal celebrated the publication of its 100th issue in 2002 with the release of the linux timeline. Timeline of the most important events in 25 years of linux. The emergence of linux has revolutionized the history of free software and. Centos is a community project that takes the red hat enterprise linux code, removes all red hats trademarks, and makes it available for free use and distribution. It bolstered opensource software and enabled linux to become such a. The gpl version 2 was written by the free software foundation in 1991, since then the linux kernel is put under this licence. The linux kernel history is published due to the efforts of riley williams and others. Shell can be command line interface or graphic user interface. This distribution is aimed at telecommunications applications that. Linux kernel simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. And since the writer of this code of conduct has had a controversial past, it has now become a point of heated discussion. Linux is a family of open source unixlike operating systems based on the linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on september 17, 1991, by linus torvalds.
A linux distribution is usually built around a package management system, which puts together the linux kernel, free and opensource software, and occasionally some proprietary software. The remaining softwarethe shells, compiler toolchain, utilities and tools, and plethora of applicationsoperate above the kernel. Ophone baidu yi libranet omoikane arma quantian dsln hikarunix damn vulnerable linux damn small linux knoppmyth danix parsix auditor security linux backtrack kanotix bioknoppix max kaella parallelknoppix musix neodizinha patinho faminto symphony os whoppix whax b2d joatha shabdix feather medialinux mediainlinux artistx insert aquamorph. In celebration and in honor of an amazing communitys history were compiling. Each linux distribution has a different goal and a slightly different focus. Having been the highest climber in ipo history, va linux becomes the poster child for the dotcom bust. Linux kernel architecture support timeline stack overflow. These kernel releases are not hosted at and kernel developers can provide no support for them.
In celebration and in honor of an amazing communitys history were compiling the significant events. Its not the complete timeline with all the important events of last 25. Oct 27, 2017 red hat created a linux distribution in 1993, and ten years later split its efforts into red hat enterprise linux and fedora, a communitybased operating system that utilizes the linux kernel and elements from the gnu project. The linux kernel, which was developed by linus torvalds, was integrated with software from the gnu project and other sources to create the actual linux operating system. Linux timeline article about linux timeline by the free. Linux is everywhere, at home, offices, colleges, labs and space stations. Software framework for creating embedded linux distributions. Its now 2006, linux itself turns 15 this year and linux journal, a little older, grayer and wiser, is soon to release its 150th issue. This makes sense too but i never use the term gnu linux. Chrome os is designed to be used with a chromebook. Linux refers to the kernel or the core of the operating system, which was initially developed by linus torvalds.
Ages of computing generations history of the unix and linux operating systems structure of an os software layers in linux file and path names note the alarming and potentially confusing similarities with microsoft oses. Linux is also used without gnu in embedded systems, mobile phones and appliances, often with busybox or other such embedded tools. Today, bsd often refers to its descendants, such as freebsd, openbsd, netbsd, or dragonfly bsd, and systems based on those descendants. Where possible, you get links to other ibm articles to help you dig deeper. In this article, we describe the history of linux as an open source operating system kernel, which is the central component of most computer operating systems that acts as a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. Timeline of linux development article about timeline of. Initially linux was intended to develop into an operating system of its own, but these plans were shelved somewhere along the way. Gnu linux is a collaborative effort between the gnu project, formed in 1983 to develop the gnu operating system and the development team of linux, a kernel. Linus torvalds took a break from linux kernel development just 30 minutes after signing this code of conduct. January 12 creative labs advertises for a linux driver writer to produce an sb live driver job posting here. Ever since, the fortunes of our magazine have followed those of linux at large. Dont post imagemacros, rage comics, or other drivel here. The biggest and weirdest commits in linux kernel git history. Ads are annoying but they help keep this website running.
The most heavily diverged merge has 22,445,760 lines of diff, though its a bit of a technicality because it shares no history with the rest of the repo. Linux uses most of its tools from gnu software and are under gnu. Linux has a code of conduct and not everyone is happy with. As part of our 100th issue celebration, we present 100 of the most significant events in linux history. We present you with the most complete historical timeline of linux evolution on the web spanning over 23.
But it was not the dominant force in the past it is now, it all started as a hobby by a finish student. It was conceived and created in 1991 by linus torvalds. In celebration and in honor of an amazing communitys history were compiling the significant events of 2002 through 2006 and of course anything from. Ubuntu linux is one of a number of different flavors of the linux operating system. Linux is typically packaged in a linux distribution. Restoration of 1st edition unix kernel sources from pdf document. This distribution is also the one to which most software being made available for linux is ported first, such as db2, oracle, wordperfect 8, etc. Linux is an operating system kernel used by a group of unixlike operating systems.