And if you choose to support only a handful of the more popular distributions, you will effectively shut out many potential customers who use other distributions. Plus there are so many distributions (and every one is different) that you can't possibly support them all in this manner. New versions can be released several times a year. This is not the first impression you want a potential customer to have with your game.įrom the developer standpoint, you would have to provide not only a package for every distribution that you want to support but also a package for every version of that distribution you want to It doesn't work, some users (particularly those new to Linux) will not know how to solve this problem. From the end user's standpoint, it can be a very frustratingĮxperience trying to find and install all of the dependent packages that the package manager says it needs - some package managers do this for you automatically, but some don't. While this sounds good in theory, in practice this can be a nightmare for both the developer and the end user. Essentially, you would have to provide a distribution-dependent package like rpm or deb to deliver your game, and allow the distribution's package manager to resolve the libraryĭependencies for you. Last time, I discussed why I believe you should not use a distribution-specific package manager, but it is worth repeating The need for a distribution-independent installer on Linux is important. In order to find your way in the busy Linux landscape, it’s important to know which version of the Linux kernel and which distribution you’re using.So far, we've learned about the tools available for Linux development and how to build a binaryĮxecutable that will run on any distribution. For example, the entire Ubuntu family is based on Debian, the distribution Fedora is based on Red Hat Linux, and SUSE used Slackware.Įven though they’re all based on the Linux kernel, the various distributions serve as their own operating systems with different GNU toolchains and graphic interfaces. The various Linux distributions can be roughly divided into three basic family trees as well as countless other smaller branches and independent versions. The first version of Ubuntu came out in 2004 and was based on the Debian operating system. The current distribution was released in 2020 with the version number 20.04. The family tree for Ubuntu alone contains over 65 software applications built on the basis of Ubuntu. The best-known are Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, SUSE, Manjaro, and Linux Mint. Keep reading for instructions on how to check your Linux version.Īs of June 2020, there are now over 500 unique Linux distributions. Since there exist countless Linux versions, it’s of utmost importance to know which version you’re running, especially when you run into technical problems, have questions, or want to do an update. While Microsoft and Apple release closed-source, proprietary software products, the Linux kernel is open-source code that any member of the Linux community can use or modify to make their own applications and operating systems. This means that Linux merely serves as the basis for potential operating systems, which are then built from the kernel and other programming elements. Instead, there is a whole series of free, open-source operating systems (referred to as “distributions”) that are built based on the Linux kernel. But unlike these market leaders that offer commercial operating systems, there is no single Linux operating system. When most people think of Linux, an open source operating system that serves as an alternative to Microsoft and Apple comes to mind.
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