this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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Linux
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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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It's not about proprietary stuff, it's about US software patents. The codecs are open source, but you can't use them under US law because of patents. Fedora cares about that because they are closely tied to Red Hat which is an American company. Community distros without any corporate affiliation like Arch or Debian generally don't give a shit since there is no commercial entity to sue. IDK how Canonical circumvents that though.