Security Strategies in Linux Platforms and Applications, 3rd Edition

Picking a Distribution

Before you can do anything at all, you need to pick a Linux distribution. But first, what is a distribution? Linux is technically an operating system or kernel. For it to be useful, it requires other software packages that a user will interface with. This starts with a ­traditional userland, which has traditionally been the collection of command line ­utilities that have always been associated with Unix. In addition, there are network services, graphical user interfaces (GUIs), language compilers/interpreters, and many other kinds of software. Linux distributions bundle their own collection of software packages with versions of those packages that may be specific to the distribution. Distributions also ­package up software ...