| Frequently Asked Questions about DistroWatch | These are some of the frequently asked questions we receive and our answers. - What is DistroWatch?
- I am new to Linux, which distribution should I choose?
- What kind of news is published on the main page?
- A new version of a distribution was released, but it wasn't announced on DistroWatch. Why?
- Is the information on your site accurate?
- Some distributions include more than one version of a package. How do you deal with these situations?
- I have just developed/discovered a new distribution. Will you list it?
- Why does DistroWatch include BSDs and Solaris?
- I am trying to find distributions with/without a feature or package. How can I do this?
- Why is distro X still on the waiting list and not in your database?
- Why is distro X not in your database?
- What is the difference between the Dormant and Discontinued status?
- Distribution X charges its users money. Is that ethical/legal? Why is it on your website?
- How can I find out if a distro has UEFI support?
- Do you provide any e-mail newsletters or "news by e-mail" features?
- Where can I find laptops/computers that work with Linux?
- What is this "Page Hit Ranking"?
- Why is Ubuntu split into multiple entries while Fedora and Linux Mint are each treated as one distro? This lowers its page hit ranking.
- Are there any plans to introduce a mobile version of the DistroWatch wesite?
- You list so many distributions. Which one do you use?
* * * * * What is DistroWatch?
The DistroWatch website was first published on 31 May 2001. The concept started as a very simple table comprising of five major distributions and the chart only compared a few features (price, version, release date) and a few package versions (Linux kernel, KDE, GNOME, XFree86, Apache web server). Trying to make it slightly more comprehensive and useful (and failing to find anything similar and up-to-date on the Internet), we have kept adding more distributions, features and packages until the table reached a fairly reasonable state in terms of information provided. At that stage, it was decided to share the table with the Linux community worldwide and it was moved from a spreadsheet into an HTML document. The page was first mentioned on LinuxToday and on many other sites around the world. Besides visitors, the site has also received a lot of feedback; what follows below is an attempt to answer some of the most common questions we receive and reply to suggestions.
Today, DistroWatch provides several features. Our front page provides up to date listings of new versions of Linux distributions (as well as new releases of BSD flavours and other open source operating systems). We also provide a weekly news letter which reviews open source software and provides a recap of recent news in the open source community.
We also track open source packages and news on our Headlines page and seed torrents for open source operating systems. Plus we provide up to date security advisories for several open source operating systems and host copies of projects' signing keys.
Back to top * * * * * I am new to Linux, which distribution should I choose?
Welcome! There are hundreds of Linux distributions and that can feel overwhelming when it comes time to choose which one to use. However, while there are a few hundred actively developed Linux distributions, relatively few are designed to be easy to use for newcomers.
On our Search page it is possible to locate Linux distributions which are specifically designed with newcomers in mind. We recommend looking at this list of beginner friendly distributions. It is probably best to start at the top of the list as the projects at the start of the list tend to be more popular. If the first one does not suit, then try the second or third item on the list.
One nice aspect of the projects on the beginner friendly list is that not only are the operating systems themselves usually easier to use, but the people on the support forums of these projects are accustomed to helping people with little to no Linux experience.
Back to top * * * * * What kind of news is published on the main page?
First and foremost, news about release announcements of Linux distributions and BSDs (both stable and development) are published on the main page. To a lesser degree, interesting reviews, podcasts and official project newsletters are listed in our sidebar. Minor news stories are first covered on our Headlines page and, later, in our weekly newsletter.
Back to top * * * * * A new version of a distribution was released, but it wasn't announced on DistroWatch. Why?
This situation can happen for one of the following reasons: - The release was not announced on the distribution's own website. Before we publish a release announcement on DistroWatch, we require that the distribution publish an announcement on their website. This can take the form of a press release, release announcement or, at the very least, a changelog. It must be published either on the main website or in a publicly available community section, such as a mailing list, user forum or Wiki.
- The release announcement was too brief. Some distribution maintainers do announce their releases, but with only one sentence saying that "Version X.X has been released". This poses a problem for us in that we find it difficult to turn a simple sentence into a full paragraph for publishing on DistroWatch. If the distribution maintainers are unable to produce a decent release announcement, giving at least a basic list of new features and updates, then we do not have anything to work with. Unannounced (or minimally announced) releases are listed on our sidebar on the front page.
- We didn't know about the release. Although we try our best to traverse the Internet continuously in search for new distribution releases, we do miss some on occasion. In this case, please let us know about it - the preferred way is to simply e-mail us.
- The release announcement has been published, but the distribution's ISO files have not been made available yet. Some projects announce new releases before updating their download page and/or before their download mirrors synchronize. We sometimes need to wait a few hours before a mirror near us has the new version and we can confirm the download links work.
- Sometimes, when a distribution publishes a lot of minor updates, we will skip one version to avoid filling up our front page with very similar release announcements. We try to space out the announcements we publish from a project to one every three months.
Back to top * * * * * Is the information on your site accurate?
It is our objective to provide correct and accurate information. At the same time, we cannot guarantee that every number and every dot is in the correct position, however hard we try. As you can imagine, it is quite tedious to collect all the information and it takes a lot effort and time to wade through busy FTP servers and extract the facts from sub-directories of ISO images. Many errors were fixed soon after the site was first made public (Slackware users were the most active in correcting them) and most of the information should be correct. Do not be shy to point out any errors you find; just send us an e-mail and we will fix them immediately.
Back to top * * * * * Some distributions include more than one version of a package. How do you deal with these situations?
Some packages, such as Bash, BIND, GCC, GTK+, Python, Qt, and the Linux kernel, are often supplied in multiple versions in some distributions. Including all these versions in tables would destroy their aesthetic qualities and bring potential confusion. Hence, only the "default" version (or highest version) is listed in the tables. The only exception is the Linux kernel (package "linux"); the reason is that most people seem to be interested in knowing what kernel options are available in a distribution, rather than what is the default kernel.
Back to top * * * * * I have just developed/discovered a new distribution. Will you list it?
We probably will, assuming the project is maintained and provides some basic infrastructure such as a website, documentation, a way for users to get support and a method for reporting bugs. We receive a lot of new distribution submissions and so new projects go on a waiting list until they can be properly evaluated. Once a project has been actively maintained for a while and has support for users in place, it will usually be added to our database.
There are exceptions. For example, we usually do not include coverage for embedded distributions or very niche specialist distributions as they can be difficult to track and/or test without special hardware.
New distributions should be installable on their own without requiring another distribution to be in place to bootstrap them. Also, new projects should have their own website. Distributions which only have a project page on build services like SUSE Studio will not be featured.
Another exception is platform/propaganda distributions. For example, if a music band has a website which talks about their music, tour dates, etc and they happen to offer a re-spin of Ubuntu which includes wallpaper with images of the band and samples of their music pre-installed, then their re-spin will not be listed on DistroWatch. Likewise, political parties, businesses or other special interest groups which take an existing distribution and merely add their promotional material to it will not be listed on this website. We are interested in distributions which fill a technological purpose.
Back to top * * * * * Why does DistroWatch include BSDs and Solaris?
Originally, the site covered Linux distributions only. However, after numerous requests from readers, BSDs and BSD-based projects were added to DistroWatch in May 2004. The reasoning behind this move was simple - Linux and BSDs have much in common - both are free and open source operating systems, and they both use many of the same open source packages available on the Internet. Best of all, the various BSD flavours are widely used and considered by many to be great operating systems.
Similarly, Sun Microsystem's Solaris was frequently requested to be included in DistroWatch, especially after the release of version 10 with a much less restrictive license than their previous releases. However, Solaris is listed here purely for reference purposes and not as an endorsement of the product.
In recent years we have made exceptions for some popular projects such as Haiku and MINIX, both of which are open source operating systems.
Back to top * * * * * I am trying to find distributions with/without a feature or package. How can I do this?
Most of the time people can find what they are looking for through our Search page. If you're looking for distributions with UEFI support, or that do not use systemd or that have a Raspberry Pi edition, then the Search page has you covered.
The Search page will also help people look for beginner oriented distributions, distributions with installation media that will fit on a CD and various combinations of other features.
We have another page where visitors can compare package versions between any two distributions.
If there is a search parameter you feel is missing from our Search page please let us know.
Back to top * * * * * What is the difference between the Dormant and Discontinued status?
A distribution which has not put out a new release in two or more years is marked as being Dormant in our database. The distribution may still be worked on, but has not published any new stable releases. When a dormant distribution publishes a new stable release it is then marked as being Active.
The Discontinued status is reserved for projects which are no longer being developed. There is no outward activity and no roadmap for new releases.
We often receive e-mails from projects which have been Dormant and plan future releases (or from fans of dormant projects) asking us to update the distro's status to Active. This will be done automatically when a new stable release is published.
Back to top * * * * * Why is distro X still on the waiting list and not in your database?
We receive a lot of new distribution submissions, usually several a month and it takes time to properly evaluate new projects. We also find that new distributions are often discontinued within their first year. For these reasons, we usually leave distributions on our waiting list for approximately one year before exploring them.
Once a project has had time to mature, we will look it over and decide whether it meets some basic criteria. We look for projects that (ideally) offer users documentation, support (through forums or mailing lists) and have a particular goal or mission. Projects meeting these goals and that we can get working will usually be imported into our database and receive news/release coverage.
There are some exceptions. Projects that violate the trademark or copyright of an existing project or that appear to be discontinued will not be added to our database. We usually will not add a project that has not yet published a stable release (ie is still in the alpha/beta development stage). For more information, please see our Submit New Distribution page.
To get a feel of which projects our readers think should be added to thedatabase first, we allow our readers to vote on which projects on the waiting list they like best. Projects with the most votes will usually be evaluated and,if they meet our requirements, be added to our database for full coverage.
Back to top * * * * * Why is distro X not in your database?
There are a few possible reasons. One is that the distribution may be on our waiting list and has not yet been moved over to our database yet. See the previous question as to why a distro may be still on our waiting list.
Another possibility is that the distribution is in our database, but is no longer active. Projects which are not active are excluded from some searches. To find a project which is no longer active, you can search for a distribution by its name in the search box in the upper-left corner of the page. Alternatively, visit our Search page and perform a search with the Status field changed from "Active" to "All".
A third possibility is that the distribution has not been submitted to us, you may be the first to mention it! If you would like us to check out a new distribution we do not know about, please submit it to us.
Finally, some projects may be known by alternative names. Sometimes people are trying to find a distribution named "FooBar" instead of "Foo Bar" or "FooBar Linux" when the distribution calls itself "FooBar OS". When the spelling of a project's name is in question, please try looking for it in our Select Distribution pull-down menu located at the top of the page.
Back to top * * * * * Distribution X charges its users money. Is that ethical/legal? Why is it on your website?
Generally speaking when we receive this question it is because people tend to assume "free software" means software that is available at no monetary cost. However, in the context of Linux distributions, "free software" refers to a particular type of license, usually the GNU General Public License (GPL).
The GPL does not require software to be made available at no cost, in fact the GNU organization encourages the sale of software licensed under the GPL: "Many people believe that the spirit of the GNU Project is that you should not charge money for distributing copies of software, or that you should charge as little as possible - just enough to cover the cost. This is a misunderstanding. Actually, we encourage people who redistribute free software to charge as much as they wish or can. If a license does not permit users to make copies and sell them, it is a nonfree license."
Given GNU's stance on selling free software, we see no ethical reason not to list Linux distributions which charge for their software. We are more interested in providing information on a wide range of distributions (commercial or free of charge) and allowing people to decide for themselves which approach best suits their needs.
The GPL is an often misunderstood license and we have written an article to address some common misunderstandings.
Back to top * * * * * How can I find out if a distro has UEFI support?
Knowing for certain if a distro supports UEFI, and to what degree, is difficult. Some distributions do well with UEFI implementations across the board, others have partial support. Some may claim to support UEFI, but not boot on (some) UEFI-enabled hardware. Also, people tend to confuse UEFI support with Secure Boot and the inclusion of UEFI does not necessarily mean the distribution also boots in Secure Boot environments. (UEFI and Secure Boot definitions can be found in our glossary.)
To help people find out which distributions have at least some UEFI support, our Search page has a quick-link at the top which will display a list of projects which appear to work with UEFI.
Back to top * * * * * Do you provide any e-mail newsletters or "news by e-mail" features?
With the current amount of spam hammering mail servers around the world, often combined with harsh anti-spam efforts, we do not consider e-mail to be an ideal medium for transmitting frequent news updates.
If you want to be kept informed about distribution releases, a more elegant solution is to use one of the RSS feed readers and subscribe to DistroWatch news feeds. We recommend the Liferea feed reader - it has good options for combining and filtering feeds. In fact, you can think of Liferea as an "e-mail" application that monitors websites of your choice and informs you about changes.
Another option is to subscribe to one of the unofficial DistroWatch social media pages which mirror our feeds. These pages provide notifications when new distribution releases and issues of DistroWatch Weekly are published.
Back to top * * * * * Where can I find laptops/computers that work with Linux?
We have a page dedicated to helping people find computers and computer parts which either ship with Linux pre-installed or are known to work with open source operating systems. Please see our Linux/BSD Compatible Hardware page for a list of vendors and other resources such as hardware compatibility databases.
Back to top * * * * * What is this "Page Hit Ranking"?
It is a light-hearted way of looking at popularity of distribution. Since each distribution has its own page, we though it would be fun to track the number of visitors viewing individual distribution pages. The Page Hit Ranking (PHR) figure represents hits per day by unique visitors; as determined by the visitor's IP address. This prevents those readers, not disciplined enough, from rigging the results by re-loading the pages multiple times. The idea is to identify which distributions attract most attention and to rank them accordingly. Admittedly, the page clicks by themselves may not always reflect the popularity correctly, but they should, over time, provide an indication about what is hot among the readers frequenting this website.
These rules have been implemented to prevent various counter reloading schemes: - Repeated page and counter reloads in short or regular intervals are not permitted.
- All suspicious page hit counts will be investigated and any regularly reloaded counts will be deducted from the total count.
- The repeat offender's IP address might be banned from accessing all areas of DistroWatch.
Back to top * * * * * Why is Ubuntu split into multiple entries while Fedora and Linux Mint are each treated as one distro? This lowers its page hit ranking.
We treat Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Kylin, etc as separate distributions for several reasons. - Most community editions of Ubuntu usually begin life as their own, separate distributions and later join the list of official Ubuntu community editions. Quite often we add new projects to our database prior to them becoming official community editions.
- While the community editions (usually) release at the same time as Ubuntu, each community project has its own developers, its own governing body and its own design goals. The community editions have their own websites and sometimes maintain parts of their own infrastructure. They are, for most practical purposes, independent entities. The names of the community editions are similar to Ubuntu and they share some infrastructure, but they are otherwise separate from Ubuntu. Our database organization reflects that.
- We generally determine what is a separate distribution vs a community spin based on whether a project has its own website. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, etc each have their own website and are therefore regarded as separate projects. By contrast, Linux Mint's editions (Main, Debian Edition, KDE spin) all share one website. Likewise Fedora Workstation, Fedora KDE and Fedora Xfce all share one website. We organize our information to reflect how distributions organize themselves.
- Grouping Ubuntu editions together, ie going out of our way to treat Ubuntu differently from the way we treat all other distributions, just artificially inflates Ubuntu's ranking. The way the stats are organized now are, if nothing else, internally consistent. We have tried combining Ubuntu community stats before, but it understandably annoyed people as it inflates Ubuntu's ranking and hides the independent community editions from the PHR table.
Back to top * * * * * Are there any plans to introduce a mobile version of the DistroWatch website?
Creating a mobile version of the website is on our to-do list, though it is a relatively low priority item. The full version of DistroWatch loads in just a few seconds and displays well on mid-to-high-end phones and tablets on 3G networks and faster. This makes the target audience for a trimmed down mobile website relatively small (low-end phones and slow or low-capped networks). Still, we know some of our audience is in this demographic and we do hope to roll out support for smaller devices in the near future.
Update: Work on a mobile version of DistroWatch has started and a trial run will hopefully appear late in 2016.
Update: The mobile version of our website has been launched and is being improved as we get feedback.
Back to top * * * * * You list so many distributions. Which one do you use?
We tend to switch distributions and desktop environments on a semi-regular basis, both to explore what is available and in an attempt to remain as objective as possible.
The DistroWatch web server is currently running on a dedicated machine powered by Debian GNU/Linux 7 (Wheezy); before then it was running on FreeBSD 5 and 6 (October 2004 - October 2007) and Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 "Woody".
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