this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
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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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Holy smokes people are mad at this thread. I genuinely don't know why. It's a valid and good question to have.
Here's something to get started, although I don't use any of these so take it with a grain of salt:
I think it’d also be good to document:
Alpine and NixOS: both 6 months
Minor releases of RHEL: 6 months
Non LTS Ubuntu: 6 months
The question also brings up Fedora rawhide. Fedora rawhide never has releases, though its version is always the current latest branched release (not necessarily stable/beta/alpha) + 1.
Since the pace of development was also brought up:
Fedora Rawhide and ELN (same package set) -> Fedora Stable after ~2-3 months of being “stabilized” (this stabilization period has periodic “freezes” which is why bad versions of XZ never made it into Fedora 40’s beta)
Fedora Rawhide and ELN (same package set) -> CentOS Stream (currently unclear how long it takes to go from branched to full release, though it was branched months ago from ELN) -> RHEL every 6 months
AlmaLinux releases are tagged from CentOS stream every 6 months, and patched with security updates. When a new version releases, the current minor release is immediately EOL’d, unlike RHEL. Rocky is the same. Both have extra support services from third parties. RHEL offers EUS releases for every other minor release (as of RHEL 9).
It’s a common misconception that Fedora stable releases become CentOS Stream releases. This pattern was true pre-CentOS stream, but now, for the most part, CentOS Stream and Fedora stable might share a few patches at most, but their development timelines are different. They branch directly off the rolling Fedora Rawhide/ELN trunk.
Debian unstable -> Debian testing (auto-promoted after 2 weeks iirc) -> Ubuntu stable or Debian stable