this post was submitted on 19 Jul 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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Canonical’s engineering is poor. They build weird stuff, and they want to close Linux off through CLA and permissive licenses. They aren’t a trust worthy company.
RH does more. RH is Linux for all intents and purposes.
Fedora is better. At one time, Ubuntu was good, but that was 20 years ago. The Fedora community has done a great job of stepping up to make it a great desktop distribution.
I can't recall the history exactly, but Red Hat was once free. Then it seems like I recall CentOS or Fedora replacing it as the FOSS fork. I'm old and my memory sucks. Anyone else recall?
Yeah, RH Linux was free at one point. I remember getting CDs with a book in the ‘90s and when it was discontinued in favor of RHEL.
Fedora was supposed to be the replacement for RH Linux. It was supposed to be what CentOS is today, a close upstream for RHEL, but the Fedora community had other ideas. 🙂
I think with that argument its better to point out Fedora has taken pains to isolate itself from Redhat/IBM. Because while IBM has historically had great engineering, they are not know for great licensing. In fact the basically destroyed and entire enterprise ecosystem recently with the licensing changes to RHEL.
Yeah, the Fedora community revolted when RH tried to force Fedora to be what they wanted, and RH left Fedora to the community after that. 😆
Moving CentOS upstream of RHEL? That was a good thing. RHEL didn’t have a true upstream, and now that is CentOS. The RHEL and the clones now have a central place to upstream code, and they now are the EL ecosystem instead of only RHEL. It’s created more diversity and has added more options.
For example, Alma doesn’t have to be bug-for-bug compatible with RHEL. They can carry their own patches and add features which their base wants and only be binary compatible.