1.3. The role of distributions
A distribution is a collection of various development projects (most of them are under constant development) that work together. Distributors select the packages with the versions that provide the right levels of new functionality, while at the same time assuring a level of stability, reliability, and maintainability. This must be achieved for the software packages of the individual projects and also for them working together. For some packages—for example, for the so-called core packages of the GNU development and buildenvironment—this is especially important.
A distribution includes applications with the operating-system packages. Among the most popular applications are Web-serving applications (such as Apache) ...
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