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 notable 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
<!-- Keep improper and un-abbreviated words lower case. Keep dates in YYYY format.
No article? DO NOT LIST IT!
In each table, link one instance of terms, remove other WP:REPEATLINK(s). -->
The table below shows general information about the distributions: founder or producer, maintainer, release date, the latest version, etc.
Linux distributions endorsed by the Free Software Foundation are marked 100% Free under the System distribution commitment column.
{| class="wikitable sortable sort-under" style="font-size: smaller; text-align: center; width: auto;"
|-
! Distribution
! Founder
! Maintainer
! Initial release year
! Current stable version
! Security updates (years)
! Release date
! System distribution commitment
! Forked from
! Target audience
! Cost
! Status
|-
! | AlmaLinux
| AlmaLinux OS Foundation
| AlmaLinux OS Foundation
| 2021
|
| 10 years
|
| <!-- X for alphabetical sort -->
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
| general
|
|
|-
! | Alpine Linux
| Alpine Linux Team
| Alpine Linux Team
| 2006
|
|
|
|
| LEAF Project
| security, lightweight, general
|
|
|-
! | ALT Linux
| ALT Linux Team
| ALT Linux Team, ALT Linux LLC
| 2001
|
|
|
|
| Mandrake Linux
| general, school
|
|
|-
! | antiX
| Anticapitalista
| Anticapitalista
| 2007
|
|
|
|
| Debian, MEPIS
| old computers
|
|
|-
! | ArchBang
| Willensky Aristide
| Stan McLaren
| 2011
| Rolling
| Rolling
| Rolling
|
| Arch Linux (UKM Edition)
| general
|
|
|-
! | Arch Linux
| Judd Vinet
| dev team
| 2002
| Rolling
| Rolling
| Rolling
|
| Independent, inspired from CRUX
| general
|
|
|-
! | BLAG
| Brixton Linux Action Group
| Brixton Linux Action Group
| 2002
|
|
|
|
| 10 years
| 2021-11-16
| 5 years
| 2024-12-12
| desktop
|
|
|-
! | Chimera Linux
| q66
| Chimera Linux team
| 2021
| Rolling
| Rolling
| Rolling
|
| Independent
| general
|
|
|-
! | ChromeOS
| Sundar Pichai
| 2011
|
| Rolling
|
|
| Gentoo Linux
| web applications
|
|
|-
! | Clear Linux OS
| Arjan van de Ven
| Intel
| 2015
| Rolling
| Rolling
| Rolling
|
| Independent
| container, server, desktop
|
|
|-
! | ClearOS
| Peter Baldwin
| ClearFoundation
| 2000
|
|
|
|
| RHEL, CentOS
| server, gateway, network
|
|
|-
! | CrunchBang Linux
| Philip Newborough
| Philip Newborough
| 2008
|
|
|
|
| Debian
| desktop
|
|
|-
| | CRUX
| Per Lidén
| CRUX Community
| 2002
|
|
|
|
| Independent
| general
|
|
|-
! | Damn Small Linux
| John Andrews
| dev team
| 2003
|
|
|
|
| Debian, Knoppix
| lightweight, portable
|
|
|-
! | Debian
| Ian Murdock
| Debian Project
| 1996
|
| 5 years non-free packages were optional)<!--Debian consists of packages in the main repository which is completely free. The supplementary contrib repository consists of packages which are free but require components not hosted in main. The supplemental non-free repository is not free. While the Debian Operating System itself is free, it is not endorsed by the FSF because the Debian Project hosts non-free software that can be installed optionally.[https://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-archive.html] -->
| Independent, inspired by Softlanding Linux System (SLS)
| general, server, desktop
|
|
|-
! | Devuan
| The "Veteran Unix Admins" (VUA)
| The "Veteran Unix Admins" (VUA)
| 2017
|
|
|
|
| Red Hat Linux
| general
|
|
|-
! | Freespire
| Lindows.com, Inc.
| PC/OpenSystems LLC
| 2001
|
|
|
|
| Ubuntu
| desktop
|
|
|-
! | Gentoo Linux
| Daniel Robbins
| Gentoo Foundation, Inc.
| 2002
| Rolling
| Rolling
| Rolling
|
| Enoch Linux
| general
|
|
|-
! | Guix System
| Ludovic Courtès
| Ludovic Courtès, Ricardo Wurmus, the Guix community
| 2012
|
| Rolling
|
|
|
|
| ext3
| systemd
| 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
| systemd
| XBMC Media Center
|
|-
! | Zentyal
|
| ext4
| systemd
| LXDE
|
|-
! | Zenwalk
|
| ext4
| sysvinit
| Xfce
|
|- class="sortbottom"
! Distribution
! abbr="Kernel" | Default Linux kernel
! abbr="File system" | Default file system
! abbr="Init system" | Default init system
! abbr="Environment" | Install-time desktop environment or window manager selection
! abbr="Reproducible builds" | Reproducible builds
|}
Instruction set architecture support
Linux kernel portability to instruction set architectures other than x86, was an early feature added to the kernel.
{| class="sortable sort-under wikitable" style="font-size: smaller; text-align: center; width: auto;"
|-
!Distribution
!x86
!x86-64
!arm
!ia64
!ppc
!ppc64
!sparc32
!sparc64
!hppa
!loongarch64
!mips
!sh
!s390
!s390x
!alpha
!m68k
!riscv
|-
! | Alpine Linux
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Arch Linux
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | BackTrack
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | BLAG
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Bodhi Linux
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | BOSS Linux
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | CentOS
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Chakra
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Chimera Linux
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Clear Linux OS
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | CRUX
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Debian
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Devuan
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | dyne:bolic
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Fedora
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->
|<!--ppc64-->
|<!--sparc32-->
|<!--sparc64-->
|<!--hppa-->
|<!--loongson-->
|<!--mips-->
|<!--sh-->
|<!--s390-->
|<!--s390x-->
|<!--alpha-->
|<!--m68k-->
|<!--riscv-->
|-
! | Finnix
|<!--x86-->
|<!--x86-64-->
|<!--arm-->
|<!--ia64-->
|<!--ppc-->