Is linux the kernel or the system?

Linux is the kernel, not a complete operating system. Linux only implements simple management of computer resources. There are no compilation tools and other necessary tools for other operating systems integrated into it. It only implements the kernel of an operating system. Therefore, it is not a complete operating system. Various released versions are available. It's the operating system.

#The operating environment of this tutorial: linux7.3 system, Dell G3 computer.

Is linux the kernel or the system?

Linux is the kernel, not a complete operating system. Various distributions are the real operating systems

It cannot be called a real or production-ready operating system, because it only implements simple management of computer resources (that is, It implements an operating system kernel), but no compilation tools and other necessary tools for the operating system are integrated into it.

In the early days of Linux, the term Linux was actually the abbreviation of the Linux operating system kernel. The Linux kernel is not an operating system but implements the management of computer hardware. It is the base of the operating system. It usually includes the following aspects:

Memory management Process management is actually the management of CPU management equipment, such as File management such as mice and keyboards, that is, the management of storage devices such as hard disks, is abstracted into file system network device management. Network devices can be regarded as a special case

Due to the open source and free features of the Linux kernel, more and more Many companies and individuals are involved in the development of the Linux kernel. Moreover, many open source projects have also been transplanted to Linux, so that Linux gradually becomes fuller.

There are many Linux distributions. For example, the ones we see more often include Ubuntu, Redhat, Suse, etc. There are many. For the traditional concept, the operating system should be a system with complete functions, which not only includes the kernel, but also includes many application software. Therefore, the meaning of Linux was gradually converted from Linux to Linux operating system, and the Linux kernel was called "Linux kernel" to facilitate distinction.

Linux operating system and various distributions

Earlier we briefly introduced the Linux operating system, kernel and distributions. For the Linux operating system, it itself is a whole, including the Linux kernel, system libraries and system programs. The Linux kernel is its most basic part. It implements the management of hardware resources and provides universal functions for using these hardware resources. interface.

Since the release of the LInux kernel in 1991, many companies have joined in and built their own operating system versions based on the kernel, such as Redhat, Debian and Suse, etc. Figure 2 shows the evolution of Linux distributions from 1991 to 2007 (for high-resolution pictures, please send a private message to linuxtl). It can be seen that by 2007 there were no less than 20 releases.

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