What makes linux distributions different ?

What makes linux distributions different ? A few years ago, I would have said the default desktop environment and software, and maybe the choice of software in the default repository and how up to date it is. Today, I would add the package manager, the default config files in /etc/, and the build options of the software in the repository. What other differences are there between the distros ? Which one are most important to you ? (Please note that this is not a thread about your favourite linux distribution, but about the criteria by which you determine your favorite.)

Linux distros are hardly different at a functional level because they're all broken piles of soykaf.

>>15814 The current lack of any fully sound, usable-for-most-things OSes is rather depressing. Haiku and 9front are both very sound, but 9front doesn't even have a reasonable web browser.

>>15816 Imo parabola is the only functional OS that works out of the Box. It has all the advantages of Arch without the autism.

>>15816 If you can't find any OS that satisfies you, I'm going to consider that the issue is with your expectations and not with the offer. >>15814 You're being hyperbolic. At least some of them work at least well enough for scientists of all sort to rely on them in their supercomputers and such. I'm also going to doubt that you tried them all in enough depth to afford such a strong statement.

The package repositories. You use a distro so you don't have to compile things yourself. The packages themselves is what makes a distro. Everything else can be changed to whatever you want.

>>15869 Pretty much. Some repos are full of old packages but very stable, some others sacrifice stability for quicker updates. Apart from that, the support communities and forums are different. I wouldn't pick a distro with zero support. A good wiki is a plus.

>>15813 I recently was forced to migrate from OpenBSD back to a Linux distribution and took some time to assess my options. What I ended up looking at was the software the distribution writes themselves like potentially their init system, package manager, & maintenence tooling. I didn't consider unoriginal distributions, things like 'this distro, distro Y, is distro X but with newer packages, and different default applications' just because there are so many of these, and because the apple doesn't fall far from the tree making it more efficient to search for these parent nodes and only branch out to the children if some desirable characteristics are found. I also looked for documentation, reasonably stable packages (not 'bleeding edge'), and a release cycle which isn't too demanding. In my case all these things are looked at for the sake of reducing breakage, and making it easier to resolve breakages when they do occur, while still allowing for some degree of customizability.

>>15870 >Some repos are full of old packages but very stable, some others sacrifice stability for quicker updates. Don't forget compiler flags and package splitting which also differ from distro to distro.

>>15813 On a more philosophical notion, perhaps Linux distros are different purely based on their raison d'etre or reason for existence. On which the justification is arbitrary. Perhaps it is this reason for existence that produces the minute/great differences that each distro have. Currently I use Void Linux on which the reason for is mainly because its lack of systemd makes it easier for me to understand my system on a more fundamental level. But I have also used Ubuntu, Debian and Arch in the not so distant past.

>>15861 Now this guy >>15817 is being hyperbolic!

>>15813 GuixSD is the most advanced distro. The entire system is essentially a functional program. Whereas on other Linux systems, you get a maze of config files in various text formats, modified by hand, GuixSD is fully programmable in Guile and can be version controlled. I can try to explain, but this page does a better job of it than I will in a short post: https://ambrevar.xyz/guix-advance/index.html Guix fully bootstraps itself entirely from a small binary seed. https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/blog/2019/guix-days-bootstrapping-arm/ And most importantly, it's GNU all the way through. Linux-Libre with no binary blobs, shepherd instead of systemd, and the guix package manager.

At first when all this was new and I was getting into it I was using whatever was easiest to configure from a gui. Then I became a rice user and I looked straight at whatever sounded coolest. Until I realized that an Arch riced system after three months is a muck of unmanaged soykaf and dead libraries en I got into a hardcore freetard stage where I crippled myself to only free software with no proprietary drivers. Which leads me to now; still coming out of the freetard stuff I just don't run absolute soykaf on my computer since I know what it is. I doubt there's a super secret Israeli backdoor in integrated GPU when they already have me by the TPM and ME. So I go for performance and have found that Void works best for my mobile setups if I take the time to set them up, while Devuan is a consistent functioning well built one with better support but pairs out on configuring defaults in comparison to Void. I run OpenBSD on my desktop since OpenBSD benefits from better hardware than mobile processing can offer, and I want wine on the go to play vidya with. I'll go freetard when Allwinner finally fixes their GPL violations and then cheap mass supported ARM RYF devices are flooding into the market I'll go crazy.

>>15817 I have considered moving to Parabola before I used Void but the prospect of having a non functional wifi-card dissuaded me from doing so.

>>15813 I like not having to configure soykaf just to get the sound card to work, and having a not bloated simple GUI (MATE)

>>16337 >Allwinner Rockchips are mainlining everything. RK3328 and RK3399 runs mainline kernel on archlinuxarm now. Mali drivers are hitting mainline mesa soon/now for both panfrost and lima. I see no reason for allwinner anymore.

>>16346 They are, but Allwinner is in almost everything and cheaper so when/if they fix their GPL violations it would mean that the market turns into a freetards paradise overnight. Rockchip besides Arch of all things, doesn't have great support on niche distros.

Any OpenSUSE boys in here?