this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Debian is 32 years old. Arch is 24 years old. Gentoo is 23 years old. Alpine is 20 years old.
In fact all major "corp distros" are based on community distros, for instance Ubuntu on Debian. If Debian ceased to exist, Ubuntu would as well.
Slackware is prehistoric
Slackware and Debian both started in 1993.
Came here to mention slackware too.