Comparison of Linux distributions

Technical variations of Linux distributions include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, including how quickly security upgrades are available; ease of package management; and number of packages available.

These tables compare each actively and noteworthy distribution's latest stable release on wide-ranging objective criteria. It does not cover each operating system's subjective merits, branches marked as unstable or beta, nor compare Linux distributions with other operating systems.

General

Basic general information about the distributions: creator or producer, release date, the latest version, and such. References are not added here but can be found in respective articles.

Linux distributions endorsed by the Free Software Foundation^[1] are marked 100% Free under the System distribution commitment column.

Distribution	Founder	Maintainer	Initial release year	Current stable version	Security updates (years)	Release date	System distribution commitment	Forked from	Target audience	Cost
Alpine Linux	Alpine Linux Team	Alpine Linux Team	2006	3.2.3	?	2015-08-13[2]	X	–	security, lightweight, general	Gratis
ALT Linux	ALT Linux Team	ALT Linux Team, ALT Linux LLC	2001	7.0	?	2013-07-10[3]	X	Mandriva Linux	general, school	Gratis
antiX	Anticapitalista	Anticapitalista	2007	15	?	2013-05-39[4]	X	Debian - MEPIS	old computers	Gratis
ArchBang	Willensky Aristide	Stan McLaren	2010	Rolling	Rolling	?	X	Arch Linux	general	Gratis
Arch Linux	Judd Vinet	dev team	2002	Rolling	Rolling	?	X	–	general	Gratis
BLAG	Brixton Linux Action Group	Brixton Linux Action Group	2002	140k	?	2011-05-04	100% Free: GNU FSDG	Fedora	desktop	Gratis
Bodhi Linux	Bodhi Linux Team	Bodhi Linux Team	2011	3.1.1	?	2015-11-18	X	Debian, Ubuntu	desktop	Gratis
CentOS	CentOS Project	CentOS Project	2003	7.0	10 years	2014-07-07	X	Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	server, workstation	Gratis
Chakra	Jan Mette and Arch Linux KDEmod developers	The Chakra Project Team	2010	Rolling	Rolling	?	X	Arch Linux[5]	desktop	Gratis
Chromium OS	?	?	2009	?	?	?	X	Chrome OS	web applications	Gratis
ClearOS	Peter Baldwin	ClearFoundation	2000	6.5.0	?	2013-12-20	X	RHEL, CentOS	server, gateway, network	Gratis
CrunchBang Linux	Philip Newborough	Philip Newborough	2008	11	?	2013-05-06[6]	X	Debian	desktop	Gratis
Damn Small Linux	John Andrews	dev team	2003	4.4.10	?	2008-11-18[7]	X	Debian, Knoppix	portable, lightweight	Gratis
Debian	Ian Murdock	Debian Project	1993	8.3	~3 years[g 1]	2015-09-05[8]	Debian Social Contract	–	general, server, desktop	Gratis
Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre	Matias A. Fonzo	Matias A. Fonzo	2009	2.2	?	2012-04-21	100% Free: GNU FSDG	–	general	Gratis
dyne:bolic	Jaromil	Jaromil	2005	3.0.0	?	2011-09-08	100% Free: GNU FSDG	Debian	multimedia	Gratis
Elementary OS	Daniel Foré	elementary	2011	0.3.1	?	2015-09-03[9]	X	Ubuntu	general	Gratis
ELinOS	SYSGO	SYSGO	1999	?	?	2014-07-31[10]	X	–	embedded systems	?
Elive	Thanatermesis	Thanatermesis	2005	2.0	?	2010-03-04	X	Debian	desktop	Gratis
Emdebian Grip	Embedded Debian Project	Embedded Debian Project	2009	3.1	End-of-life	?	X	Debian	embedded systems	Gratis
Fedora	Fedora Project	Fedora Project	2003	23	?	2015-11-03[11]	Fedora Licensing Guidelines	–	general	Gratis
Distribution	Founder	Maintainer	Initial release year	Current stable version	Security updates (years)	Release date	System distribution commitment	Forked from	Target audience	Cost
Freespire	Lindows.com, Inc.	Linspire, Inc.	2002	?	?	?	X	Debian	desktop	Gratis
Gentoo Linux	Daniel Robbins	Gentoo Foundation, Inc.	2002	Rolling	Rolling	?	Gentoo Social Contract	–	general	Gratis
Guix System Distribution	Ludovic Courtès	Guix community	?	Rolling	Rolling	?	100% Free: GNU FSDG	–	general	Gratis
gNewSense	Brian Brazil and Paul O'Malley	Sam Geeraerts with sponsorship from the FSF	2006	3.1 (Parkes)	?	2014-02-09[12]	100% Free: GNU FSDG	Debian	general, server	Gratis
gnuLinEx	Regional Government of Extremadura	dev team	2002	?	?	?	X	Debian	desktop	Gratis
Grml	Michael Prokop	The Grml Team	2005	?	?	?	X	Debian	live, maintenance, security, network, forensic, accessibility	Gratis
Instant WebKiosk	Marco Buratto	Binary Emotions	2012	?	?	?	X	Debian	web kiosks, digital signage, personal web navigation	?
Kali Linux	Max Moser, Mati Aharoni, Martin J. Muench	Remote-Exploit	2013	2.0	?	2015-08-11[13]	X	Debian	auditing, forensic, security, network	Gratis
Knoppix	Klaus Knopper	dev team	2000	7.4.2	?	2014-09-28[14]	X	Debian	live	Gratis
Kodibuntu	The XBMC Project	Team Kodi	2008	?	?	?	X	Debian, Ubuntu	multimedia	Gratis
Korora	Chris Smart	Dev Team	2005	20	?	2015-08-02[15]	X	Fedora	desktop	Gratis
LibreCMC/LibreWRT	LibreWRT team	LibreWRT team	2010	1.3 (LibreWRT was at 2.0)	?	2014-12-23	100% Free: GNU FSDG	LibreWRT	embedded systems	Gratis
Linux Mint	Clement Lefebvre	dev team	2006	17.3	~3 years (LMDE); 5 years (main editions)	2015-12-04[16]	X	Debian, Ubuntu	desktop	Gratis
Mageia	Mageia Community	mageia.org	2010	5	1	2015-09-13[17]	X	Mandriva Linux	general	Gratis
Mandriva Linux	Mandrakesoft S.A.	Mandriva S.A.	1998	?	?	?	X	Red Hat Linux	general	?
Manjaro Linux	Roland Singer	dev team	2012	Rolling	Rolling	2011-07-10[18][19]	X	Arch Linux	general	Gratis
MEPIS	Warren Woodford	MEPIS LLC	2003	?	?	?	X	Debian	desktop, server	Gratis
Musix GNU+Linux	Musix team	Musix team	2008	3.0.1	?	2014-03-13	100% Free: GNU FSDG	Debian	multimedia	Gratis
Netrunner	Blue Systems	dev team	2009	?	?	?	X	Debian, Ubuntu, Kubuntu	desktop	Gratis
Distribution	Founder	Maintainer	Initial release year	Current stable version	Security updates (years)	Release date	System distribution commitment	Forked from	Target audience	Cost
Novell Open Enterprise Server	Novell	Novell, Inc. dev team	2003	?	?	?	X	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server	server	Commercial
OpenELEC	Stephan Raue, OpenELEC Team	OpenELEC Team	2011	?	?	?	X	–	multimedia	Gratis
openSUSE	SUSE Linux, Novell	openSUSE Project	2006	42.1	3 years[20]	2015-11-04	X	–	general, desktop	Gratis
OpenWrt	?	OpenWrt team	2007	?	?	?	X	–	embedded systems	Gratis
Oracle Linux	Oracle Corporation	Oracle Corporation	2006	2012	?	2014	X	Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	server	Gratis
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre	Parabola Hackers	Parabola Hackers	2009	Rolling	Rolling	2015-08-01[21]	100% Free: GNU FSDG followed in Parabola GNU/Linux-libre Social Contract	Arch Linux	general	Gratis
Pardus	Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK)	TÜBİTAK	2005	?	?	?	X	–	general	Gratis
Parsix	Alan Baghumian	Parsix Project	2005	?	?	?	X	Debian	desktop	Gratis
PCLinuxOS	Bill Reynolds	dev team	2003	?	?	?	X	PCLinuxOS	desktop	Gratis
Pentoo	Michael Zanetta, Rick Farina, Jens Pranaitis	Pentoo	2005	?	?	?	X	Gentoo Linux	auditing, security	?
Porteus	Fanthom	Porteus	2010	?	?	?	X	Slackware	lightweight, portable	Gratis
Puppy Linux	Barry Kauler	Puppy Foundation	2003	?	6.0.2CE	2015-02-05	X	–	portable, lightweight	Gratis
Qubes OS	Joanna Rutkowska	Invisible Things Lab	2012	3.0 (and R3 rc1)	?	2015-10-01[22]	X	Xen and Fedora	Security by Compartmentalization, desktop	Gratis
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	Red Hat	Red Hat	2002	7.2	?	2015-11-19[23]	X	Red Hat Linux, Fedora	server, workstation	Commercial
Red Hat Linux	Red Hat	Red Hat	1995	9	?	?	X	–	server, workstation	Gratis
Rocks Cluster Distribution	UCSD Supercomputing Center, Clustercorp	UCSD Supercomputing Center, Clustercorp	2000	6.2	?	2015-05-12	X	Red Hat Linux	server, workstation	?
Sabayon Linux	Fabio Erculiani	dev team	2005	16.02	?	2016-01-29[24]	X	Gentoo Linux	general	Gratis
Salix OS	Cyrille Pontvieux, George Vlahavas, Pierrick Le Brun, Thorsten Mühlfelder	Salix team	2009	?	?	?	X	Slackware	general	Gratis
Distribution	Founder	Maintainer	Initial release year	Current stable version	Security updates (years)	Release date	System distribution commitment	Forked from	Target audience	Cost
Scientific Linux	CERN, Fermilab	dev team	2004	6.5	?	?	X	Red Hat Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	server, workstation	Gratis
Slackware	Patrick Volkerding	dev team	1993	14.1	?	2013-11-07	X	Softlanding Linux System (SLS)	general	Gratis
Slax	Tomas Matejicek	Tomas Matejicek	2002	?	?	?	X	Slackware	live	Gratis
SliTaz GNU/Linux	Christophe Lincoln	dev team	2008	2.6.37	?	?	X	–	portable	Gratis
SolydXK	Arjen Balfoort	dev team	2013	?	?	?	X	Debian	desktop	Gratis
Source Mage GNU/Linux	Ryan Abrams, Eric Schabell	dev team	2002	?	?	?	Source Mage Social Contract	Sorcerer	general	Gratis
SUSE Linux	SUSE Linux, Novell	Novell, Inc. dev team	1994	?	?	?	X	Slackware, Jurix	workstation, server	Gratis
Tails	?	?	2009	1.8	?	2015-12-15	X	Debian	security-focused aimed for anonymity and privacy	Gratis
Tiny Core Linux	Robert Shingledecker	Team Tiny Core	2009	?	?	?	X	Tiny Core Linux	portable	Gratis
Tor-ramdisk	Anthony G. Basile	dev team	2008	?	?	?	X	Gentoo Linux Embedded, uClibc	Tor server	?
Trisquel GNU/Linux	Rubén Rodríguez Pérez (quidam)	Rubén Rodríguez Pérez (quidam)	2005	7.0	5 years[g 2]	2014-11-03	100% Free: GNU FSDG	Ubuntu LTS	desktop	Gratis
Ubuntu and Derivatives[25]	Canonical Ltd.	Canonical Ltd.	2004	16.04 LTS	Standard releases – 9 months; LTS releases – 5 years	2016-04-21	X	Debian	general, server, desktop	Gratis
Univention Corporate Server	Univention GmbH	Univention GmbH	2004	3.2-2	?	2014-05-15	X	Debian	(small business) server	?
Ututo	Diego Saravia, Daniel Olivera	UTUTO dev team	2000	XS 2012	?	2012-04-27	100% Free: GNU FSDG	Gentoo Linux	general	Gratis
VectorLinux	Robert S. Lange	dev team	1999	7.1	?	2015-06-27	X	Slackware	desktop	Gratis
Void Linux	Juan Romero Pardines	dev team	2008	Rolling	Rolling	?	X	–	general	Gratis
Webconverger	Kai Hendry	Webconverger Limited	2007	34.0	?	2016-02-20	X	Debian	Kiosk software, digital signage
X-LFS-2010	Unix et al.	You	2016	0.1.10	?	?	FULLY compilable distro, %100 compiled on your box overnight	GNU FSF BSD X OpenGroup; fresh, NOT A FORK	desktop, distribution developing 101	Gratis
Zentyal	eBox Technologies	eBox Technologies	2005	?	?	?	X	Debian, Ubuntu	Small Business Server	?
Zenwalk	Jean-Philippe Guillemin	dev team	2004	7.9.6[26]	?	2015-10-31	X	Slackware	general	?
Distribution	Founder	Maintainer	Initial release year	Current stable version	Security updates (years)	Release date	System distribution commitment	Forked from	Target audience	Cost

1. Debian releases are officially supported for 1 year after the subsequent release, with releases being approximately 2 years apart. The Debian LTS Project provides community based support extending the complete support period to 5 years.
2. for more information visit: https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/trisquel

Cost

The majority of Linux distributions are available for free.

The following distributions come in several editions, some of which cost money and some do not: ClearOS, Mandriva Linux, MEPIS, Univention Corporate Server, Zentyal and Zorin OS.

The following distributions cost money: Novell Open Enterprise Server,^[27] Red Hat Enterprise Linux,^[28][29] SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.^[30]

The following distributions had at least one version which used to cost money: Corel Linux OS (discontinued), Elive (now freely available), Linspire^[31] (discontinued) and Xandros (discontinued)

Technical

The table below shows the default file system, but many Linux distributions support some or all of ext2, ext3, ext4, Btrfs, ReiserFS, Reiser4, JFS, XFS, GFS2, OCFS2, and NILFS. It is possible to install Linux onto most of these file systems. The ext file systems, namely ext2, ext3, and ext4 are based on the original Linux file system.

File systems have been developed by companies to meet their specific needs, by hobbyists, or adapted from Unix, Microsoft Windows, and other operating systems. Linux has full support for XFS and JFS, FAT (the DOS file system), and HFS, the main file system for the Macintosh. Support for Microsoft Windows NT's NTFS file system has been developed and is now comparable with other native Unix file systems. CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs' ISO 9660 and Universal Disk Format (UDF) are supported.

Unlike other operating systems, Linux and Unix allow any file system regardless of the medium it is stored on, whether that medium is a magnetic disk, an optical disk (CD, DVD, etc.), a USB flash memory key, or even contained within a file located on another file system. Similarly, many C compilers (mainly GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)), init systems (mainly sysvinit), desktop environments and window managers are widely supported.

Distribution	Default file system	Default init system	Install-time desktop environment or window manager selection
Alpine Linux	ext4	openrc	none
ALT Linux	ext3	systemd	KDE Plasma Workspaces, Xfce
Arch Linux	none[32]	systemd	none
BLAG	ext3	sysvinit	GNOME
Bodhi Linux	ext4	sysvinit	Moksha (Enlightenment fork)
CentOS	xfs	systemd	GNOME
Chakra	ext4	systemd	KDE Plasma Workspaces
ClearOS	ext3	?	GNOME
CoreOS	ext4	systemd	None
CrunchBang Linux	ext4	sysvinit	Openbox
Damn Small Linux	ext3	sysvinit	JWM
Debian	ext4	systemd	GNOME, KDE, Xfce, LXDE[33]
Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre	ext4	runit	Xfce
dyne:bolic	?	?	?
Elive	SquashFS, ReiserFS	initscripts	Enlightenment
Fedora	ext4	systemd	GNOME
Funtoo	none	openrc	None
Gentoo	none	openrc	Awesome, Enlightenment, Fluxbox, GNOME, KDE, LXDE-Meta, Openbox, XBMC and Xfce (live DVD)[34]
gNewSense	ext3	?	GNOME
gnuLinEx	ext2	?	GNOME
Instant WebKiosk	SquashFS	?	Has no DE. It's a browser-only interface
Kali Linux	ext3	sysvinit	GNOME
Knoppix	XFS	microknoppix	LXDE
LibreCMC/LibreWRT[35]	ext4	busybox-init	none
Linux Mint[36]	ext4	upstart	MATE, Cinnamon
Mageia	ext4	systemd	KDE Plasma Workspaces, GNOME
Mandriva Linux	ext4	systemd	KDE Plasma Workspaces
Manjaro Linux	none[37]	systemd	Xfce, KDE[38]
MEPIS	ext3, ext4	sysvinit	KDE Plasma Workspaces
Musix GNU+Linux[39]	ext4	initscripts	LXDE
OpenELEC	SquashFS	shell script	XBMC Media Center
openSUSE	btrfs	systemd	KDE Plasma Workspaces, GNOME, Xfce
OpenWrt	overlayfs+SquashFS/JFFS2[40]	procd[41]	none
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre	none	systemd	none
Pardus	ext4	?	KDE Plasma Workspaces
Parsix	ext4	systemd	GNOME
PCLinuxOS	none	sysvinit	KDE Plasma Workspaces, GNOME, LXDE, Xfce, Enlightenment, Openbox
Pentoo	SquashFS	openrc	Enlightenment
Porteus	Squashfs, ext2, ext3, ext4, FAT32, reiser, xfs	sysvinit	KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Openbox, Razor-qt
Puppy Linux	SquashFS containing ext2	busybox-init	JWM
Red Hat Enterprise Linux	xfs	systemd	GNOME
Rxart Desktop	ext3	?	KDE Plasma Workspaces
Sabayon Linux	ext4[42]	systemd	KDE Plasma Workspaces, GNOME
Scientific Linux	ext4	sysvinit	GNOME
Slackware	ext4	sysvinit	KDE Plasma Workspaces, Xfce, Fluxbox, Blackbox, twm
Slax	SquashFS	sysvinit	KDE Plasma Workspaces
SliTaz GNU/Linux	ext3	busybox-init	Openbox
Source Mage GNU/Linux	ext2	simpleinit-msb	none
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop	ext3	systemd	GNOME
Tor-ramdisk	ext2	?	none
Trisquel	ext4, xfs	upstart	GNOME, LXDE
Ubuntu/Edubuntu	ext4[43]	systemd	Unity on GNOME, Unity 2D for fallback
Kubuntu	ext4[43]	systemd	KDE Plasma Workspaces
Xubuntu	ext4[43]	systemd	Xfce
Ututo	ext3	?	GNOME
VectorLinux	ReiserFS	sysvinit	KDE, Openbox, Fluxbox, IceWM, Xfce
Void Linux	none	runit	none
Webconverger	gitfs	sysvinit	dwm enforcing a Browser-only interface
XBMC Live	ext3	upstart	XBMC Media Center
Zentyal	ext4	?	LXDE
Zenwalk	ext4	sysvinit	Xfce
Distribution	Default file system	Default init system	Install-time desktop environment or window manager selection

Instruction set architecture support

Linux kernel portability to instruction set architectures other than x86, was an early feature added to the kernel.

Distribution	x86	x86-64	ia64	ppc[44]	ppc64	sparc32	sparc64	arm	hppa[45]	loongson	mips[46]	sh	s390	s390x	alpha[47]	m68k[48]
Alpine Linux	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Arch Linux	Yes (>=i686)	Yes	No	Discontinued unofficial port	No	No	No	Yes Unofficial[49]	No	In progress. Unofficial port[50]	No	No	No	No	No	No
BackTrack	Discontinued from BackTrack 5 and superseded by Kali Linux[51]	Discontinued from BackTrack 5 and superseded by Kali Linux	No	No	No	No	No	Discontinued from BackTrack 5 and superseded by Kali Linux	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Bodhi Linux	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Discontinued 2013-10-23[52]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
BOSS Linux	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
CentOS	Discontinued 2.1-6	Yes	Discontinued 3.5-3.8 4.1-4.7[53]	Beta 4.0	No	Beta 4.2[53][54]	No	No	No	No	No	No	Discontinued 3.5-3.8 4.1-4.7[53][55]	Discontinued 3.5-3.8 4.1-4.7[53][55]	Discontinued 4.2-4.3[53][56][57]	No
Chakra	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
CRUX	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Debian[58]	Yes	Yes 4.0+	Discontinued 3.0-7.0[59]	Yes 2.2+	Yes	Discontinued 2.1-4.0[60]	Discontinued -7[61]	Yes 2.2+	Discontinued 3.0-5.0	Yes	Yes 3.0+	In progress	Discontinued 3.0-7	Yes 7+	Discontinued 2.1-5.0	Discontinued 2.0-3.1
Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Fedora[62]	Yes	Yes	Discontinued from Fedora 9 [63]	Yes	Yes	No	Still active but slow in development, Last available is Fedora 12, Working on Fedora 18 [64]	Yes[65]	No	In progress	Inactive from Fedora 13 [66]	No	No	Yes	No	No
Finnix	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Gentoo[67]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[68]	Yes	Yes[69]	Yes[70][71]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
gNewSense	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Kali Linux	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
LibreCMC/LibreWRT	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes XBurst	No	No	No	No	No
Manjaro Linux	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes Unofficial[72]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
MEPIS	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
OpenELEC	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
openSUSE[73]	Discontinued 42.1	Yes	No	No[74]	No[74]	No	partial[75]	partial[76]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
OpenWrt[77]	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Oracle Linux[78]	Yes	Yes	Discontinued 5[79]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes[80][81]	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Red Flag Linux	Discontinued 8.0[82]	Discontinued 8.0[82]	Discontinued 3[83]	No	Discontinued 3[83]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Red Hat Linux[84]	Discontinued 9.0	No	Discontinued 7.1-7.2	Test release 5.1[85]	No	Discontinued 4.0-4.2 5.1-6.2	Test release 5.1[85]	No	No	No	Test release 5.1[85]	No	Discontinued 7.2	Yes	Discontinued 2.1-7.1	Test release 5.1[85]
Red Hat Enterprise Linux[86]	Discontinued 2.1-6[87]	Yes 3+	Discontinued 2.1-5[88]	Yes 3+	Yes 3+	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Discontinued 3-4[89]	Yes 3+	No	No
Sabayon Linux	Discontinued	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Scientific Linux	Yes	Yes	Discontinued 3-4	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
SHR	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Slackware	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Discontinued ?[90]	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Discontinued ?[91]	Discontinued ?[91]	Discontinued 8.1[92]	No
Source Mage GNU/Linux	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	?	No	No	No	No	No	No
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server[93]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Tor-ramdisk	Yes	Yes[94]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes[95]	No	No	No	No	No
Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Lubuntu	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes, including 64-bit ARMv8-A	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ututo	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	In progress	No	No	No	No	No	No
Void Linux	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
XBMCbuntu	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Yellow Dog Linux	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Distribution	x86	x86-64	ia64	ppc	ppc64	sparc32	sparc64	arm	hppa	loongson	mips	sh	s390	s390x	alpha	m68k

Package management and installation

Information on features in the distributions. Package numbers are only approximate (some distributions like Ubuntu tend to separate tools into different packages (usually stable release, development release, documentation and debug).

Distribution	Approximate number of pre-compiled packages	Approximate number of source packages	Default package management tool(s)	Package format	Default installer	Graphical installation process	Netinstall	Netboot
Alpine Linux	8,135[96]		apk[97]	.apk[98]	setup-alpine	No	?	?
ALT Linux	8,300[99]		APT (APT-RPM), RPM	RPM		Yes	?	?
Arch Linux	13,628[100]	29,935 from AUR[101]	Pacman	.pkg.tar.xz	None (install scripts only)	No	Yes	iPXE
BLAG	10,000[102]		RPM, yum, APT	RPM		Yes	No	No
Bodhi Linux	35,000		APT	.dpkg	Ubiquity	Yes	?	?
CentOS	17,565[103]		RPM, yum/up2date	RPM		Yes	Yes	?
Chakra	3,074[104]	CCR: 4,663[105]	Pacman (will be replaced by Akabei in future)	.pkg.tar.xz		Package manager in development	?	?
ClearOS			RPM, yum	RPM		No	?	?
CrunchBang Linux	23,000		APT	.deb		Yes	?	?
Damn Small Linux	610		myDSL, APT	.dsl, .tar.gz, .uci, .unc, .deb		No	?	?
Debian	56,864[106]	21,041[note 1]	APT	.deb	Debian-Installer	Yes	Yes	PXE
Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre	484		pkgsystem[107]	.tlz	?	No	No	No
dyne:bolic	?	?	APT	.deb	Debian-Installer	Yes	No	No
Elive	20,000		APT	.deb		Yes	?	?
Fedora	22,000		DNF, yum, PackageKit	RPM	Anaconda	Yes	?	?
Gentoo	108[108]	18,721[109][note 2]	Portage	.ebuild, .tbz2		Yes[110]	?	PXE[111]
gNewSense	?	?	APT	.deb	Debian-Installer	Yes	Yes	No
gnuLinEx	200		APT	.deb		Yes	?	?
Knoppix	3,600		APT	.deb		No	?	?
LibreCMC/LibreWRT	826		?	?	?	?	?	?
Linux Mint	50,781		APT	.deb	Ubiquity	Yes	?	?
Mageia	17,283 (i586), 11,409 (x86-64)[112]	8,834[113]	urpmi, rpmdrake	RPM	DrakX	Yes	Yes	?
Mandriva Linux	22,600		urpmi, rpmdrake[114]	RPM	DrakX	Yes	?	?
Manjaro Linux	?	? from AUR[101]	Pacman	.pkg.tar.xz	None (install scripts only)	Yes[115]	Yes	iPXE
MEPIS	20,000		APT	.deb	MEPIS Install	Yes	?	?
Musix GNU+Linux	1819		APT	.deb	Debian-Installer	Yes	No	No
OpenELEC	140[116]		XBMCbuntu addon manager, own and 3rd party addons	.zip		Yes	?	?
openSUSE	69,367	34,891[117]	YaST, Zypper	RPM	YaST	Yes	Yes	?
OpenWrt	2,000		opkg	.ipk	-	No	?	?
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre	15,352[118]	?	Pacman	.pkg.tar.xz	None (install scripts only)	No	MIPS64	No
Pardus	4,000		PiSi	.pisi	YALI	Yes	?	?
Parsix	29,000	14,900	APT	.deb		Yes	?	?
PCLinuxOS	12,000		APT, RPM	RPM		Yes	?	?
Puppy	700		PupGet, DotPup	.pup, .pet		Yes	?	?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux	3,000 (plus 9,155 from EPEL[119])		RPM, yum	RPM		Yes	?	?
Rxart	5,000		APT	.deb		Yes	?	?
Sabayon Linux	>13,130		Portage, Entropy	ebuild, .tbz2	Calamares	Yes	?	?
Scientific			APT/yum	RPM		Yes	?	?
Slackware	2,292		installpkg, upgradepkg	tgz, .txz, .tlz, .tbz		No	?	?
Slax	2,050		none	.lzm			?	?
SliTaz GNU/Linux	3,381[120]		Tazpkg	.tazpkg	tazinst	Yes	iPXE	iPXE
Source Mage GNU/Linux	5,514		Sorcery Package Manager	src		Yes	?	?
SUSE Linux	24,094	11,385	YaST, Zypper	RPM	YaST	Yes	?	?
Tiny Core Linux	25,160		ab, tce-load	tcz	tc-install, core2usb	Yes	?	?
Tiny SliTaz	50		Web site[121]	tazpkg		No	?	iPXE
Tor-ramdisk			none	none		No	?	?
Trisquel	52,748[122]	?	APT	.deb	Ubiquity	Yes	?	?
Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu	58,318[123]	24,474[note 3]	APT	.deb	Ubiquity	Yes	Yes	PXE
Ututo	5,000	?	UTUTO Package Manager	ebuild	?	?	No	No
Vector Linux			slapt-get, gslapt, installpkg	tgz		Yes	?	?
Void Linux	6,000	?	xbps	.xbps		No	Yes	?
XBMC Live			APT	.deb		No	?	?
Zentyal			APT	.deb	dpkg	Yes	?	?
Zenwalk	2,000		netpkg, installpkg, upgradepkg	tgz, txz		Yes	?	?
Distribution	Approximate number of pre-compiled packages	Approximate number of source packages	Default package management tools	Package format	Default installer	Graphical installation process	Netinstall	Netboot

Live media

Distribution	Size of media (MB)	RAM use (MB)	Boots from CD	Boots from DVD	Installable live CD/DVD	Installable from USB
Arch Linux	709		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
AUSTRUMI	301		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
BLAG Linux and GNU	696	?	Yes	No	?
Bodhi Linux	1,024	80	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CentOS	603 (Minimal) 4,096 (DVD)		Yes	Yes	Officially not supported[124]	Yes
Chakra	2,150		No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Debian	958		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre	655	?	Yes	?	?	?
Elive	700		Yes	Yes
Fedora	1,434	256 to 1,024	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Gentoo	2,048	up to 128	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Grml	460	32 to 128	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Knoppix CD	700	128 to 320	Yes	Yes	Only DVD edition is maintained
Knoppix DVD	4,813	128 to 500	No	Yes
Mandriva Linux One	700	128 to 768	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Manjaro Linux	548 to 1,900[125]	256 to 1,024	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MEPIS	700 to 4,000	128 to 512	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MCNLive	350		Yes	Yes
Musix GNU+Linux	2,000	?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nanolinux	18	≈64	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
openGEU	700	192 to 512	Yes		Yes
openSUSE (Not 42.1)	700	128 to 768	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
OpenWrt	min 4	min 16	No	No	No	No
Oralux	500		Yes	Yes	No longer updated
Parabola	531	?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pardus	1,256 to 1,276	256 to 1,024	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
PCLinuxOS	130 to 700	96 to 512	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pentoo	666 and 700	48 to 96	Yes	Yes	By hand[126]	By hand
Puppy Linux (Slacko)	235	32 to 192	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Puredyne	542		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sabayon Linux Live CD	695		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sabayon Linux Live DVD	2,400		No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Scientific Linux	431 to 2,300[127]	640	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Slax	200	96 to 320	Yes	Yes		Yes
SystemRescueCD	459		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SliTaz GNU/Linux	35	24 to 192	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tails	≈900	≈1,024	No	Yes	Yes	Yes (when run from DVD)
Tiny Core Linux	16	46	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tiny SliTaz	1.44	4	Yes	Yes	By SliTaz	By SliTaz
Tor-ramdisk	5	256 or >[128]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Trinity Rescue Kit	104		Yes	Yes
Trisquel	1,500[129]	384	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ubuntu	1,100[130]	384	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ututo	3,500	?	No	Yes	Yes	?
Edubuntu	2,900[131]		Yes	Yes	Yes
Kubuntu	1,200[132]	384	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
XBMC Live	700	256 to 1,024	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Zentyal	600	256	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Xubuntu	963[133]	256	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Distribution	Size of media (MB)	RAM use (MB)	Boots from CD	Boots from DVD	Installable live CD/DVD	Installable from USB

Security features

Distribution	Compile time buffer checks	Mandatory access control	Software executable space protection	grsecurity	RSBAC
Alpine Linux	Yes[134]	Unknown	PaX	Yes	Unknown
Debian/Ubuntu	Yes	SELinux,[135] AppArmor	PaX optional	Optional	Optional
Fedora	Yes	SELinux[136]	Exec Shield[137]	No	No
Gentoo[138]	Optional	SELinux	PaX optional	Optional	Optional
gNewSense	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Mandriva	Unknown	AppArmor[139]	Unknown	Unknown	Yes
SUSE Linux	Yes	AppArmor[140]	Hardware NX and other methods in mainline kernel and toolchain[141]	No	No
Tor-ramdisk	Unknown	Unknown	PaX	Yes	No
Trisquel	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
Ututo	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

See also

• Comparison of netbook-oriented Linux distributions
• Comparison of operating systems
• DistroWatch
• List of Linux distributions

Notes

1. From the Sources.gz files in the main, contrib and non-free sections of Debian Jessie. On the 2015-11-21, Debian Sid, the development release, have 24757 source packages.
2. Note this number is just of packages in the Official Gentoo Overlay (or Portage Tree). Several hundred other packages are available from other overlays
3. From the Sources.gz files in the main,universe, multiverse and restricted sections of Ubuntu Wily.

References

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14. http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/knoppix742-en.html
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28. redhat.com | Red Hat Enterprise Linux
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49. Arch Linux ARM
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58. Debian - Ports
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60. Jurij Smakov (2007-07-18). "Retiring the sparc32 port". debian-devel-announce (Mailing list).
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62. Fedora Architectures Specific Notes
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64. "Architectures/SPARC". Retrieved 2012-05-19.
65. "Architectures/ARM". Retrieved 2010-07-20.
66. "Architectures/MIPS". Retrieved 2011-01-27.
67. Gentoo Linux -- Where to Get Gentoo Linux
68. "Gentoo Linux ARM Handbook".
69. Project:MIPS
70. "Gentoo Linux/MIPS Frequently Asked Questions".
71. "Gentoo/MIPS Linux Hardware Requirements".
72. Manjaro ARM
73. openSUSE download page
74. no longer listed at site
75. openSUSE:SPARC - openSUSE
76. openSUSE ARM Portal
77. OpenWrt
78. Oracle Linux Technical Information
79. Oracle Linux Operating System,Specifications
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82. 红旗桌面版 Red Flag inWise V8.0全新发布
83. Red Flag 4 server
84. Red Hat Linux archive
85. Linux Rough Cuts
86. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Version comparison chart
87. 7.0 Release Notes
88. Red Hat Enterprise Linux, version 2.1
89. RHEL 4 is the last version to support 31-bit s390. RHEL 5 only supports 64-bit s390x.
90. Slackware Linux for SPARC
91. No updates since Dec-2009
92. Slackware Linux for the Alpha
93. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Tech Specs
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95. "Tor-ramdisk MIPS Port". Retrieved 2011-04-15.
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98. http://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Alpine_package_format
99. Sisyphus - intro
100. Arch Linux package search
101. Arch Linux AUR repository
102. BLAG :: View topic - rolling or frozen
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104. The Chakra Project Packages
105. Chakra Community Repository
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111. Diskless install using PXE boot
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114. Mandriva 2008 release notes
115. Manjaro Wiki: Graphical Software Managers
116. https://github.com/OpenELEC/OpenELEC.tv/tree/master/packages
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118. https://parabolagnulinux.org/packages/
119. Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux
120. SliTaz Packages Database, the package query webtool
121. Tiny SliTaz, the configuration builder webtool
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128. "Tor-ramdisk Quickstart Guide". Retrieved 2011-04-15.
129. "Download Trisquel GNU/Linux". trisquel.info. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
130. "Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet)". ubuntu.com. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
131. "Edubuntu 14.04.3 LTS (Trusty Tahr)". ubuntu.com. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
132. "Kubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet)". ubuntu.com. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
133. "Xubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet)". ubuntu.com. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
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138. "Hardened Gentoo - 4. Subprojects". Retrieved 2007-12-24.
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141. "Security Features". Archived from the original on December 4, 2010. Retrieved 2009-11-23.

External links

• LWN.net Linux Distribution List
• Linux free distros (Free Software Foundation)