this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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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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The rationale for using LTS distros is being eroded by widespread adoption of containers and approaches like flatpak and nix. Applications and services are becoming less dependent on any single distro and instead just require a skeleton core system that is easier to keep up to date. Coupled with the increased cost needed to maintain security backports we are getting to a point where it's less risky for companies to use bleeding edge over stable.
And it's about flippin time. Despite predating app stores by decades, the Linux package systems have been surprisingly conservative in their approach.
The outdated and hardcoded file hierarchy system combined with the rigid package file management systems have ossified to a ridiculous degree.
It's actually telling that Linux packaging systems had to be circumvented with third party approaches like snap, flatpak, appimage etc. — because for the longest time they couldn't handle stuff like having two versions of the same package installed at the same time, or solving old dependencies, or system downgrades, or recovery etc.
Linux had advanced stuff like overlayfs 20 years ago but did not use any of it for packages. But we have 20 different solutions for init.
Like everything, it's a trade off. Windows allows different versions of the same libraries, but at the cost of an ever growing WinSXS folder and slow updates