SuSE Linux 7.2 - System and Reference Manual [antikvár]

¦ 11 Introduction 1 Introduction 1.1 What ls "Linux"? The actual "Linux" is the kernel, the "heart" of every UNIX operating system. But the kernel alone does not constitute an entire operating system. Especially in UNIX there is a huge amount of free software available; this means that practi-cally any standard tools in Unix are also available in Linux. It is these programs which make the operating system what it is. Many of these tools are GNU versions (GNU) of these Unix programs and many of them offer enhanced features over the origináis. Of these, the GNU C/C++ compiler, one of the best compilers available, is probably the most famous program. We should not forget the many tools, small and large, which can be used on the command line, in shell scripts or as fully fledged programs; from the shell, file and text utilities such as sed, awk and perl to editors like vi or complete work-environments like Emacs. What makes Linux complete is XFree86™ (current version, 4.0.3), the X Window System (currently X11 Release 6.4) for PC-based UNIX systems. This port is part of the official X11R6.4 distribution of the X Consortium, Inc., and is therefore fully, compatible with that standard. All these components, together with many other tools, applications and amusements (e. g., games), make up the system known as Linux. There is a large amount of free software available, and there are many ways to put a Linux system together. At this point the Linux distributions come into play, in this case, SuSE Linux. A distribution is a selection from a wide palette of free software. The end product is, in the case of the SuSE Linux CDs, over 1000 software packages. Note SuSE Linux includes, in addition to free software - software in which the source-code is included on the CD-ROMs, software packages that, for different reasons, SuSE can only offer in compiled form. Due to the fact that distributions are offered free on the Internet, updating your System does not necessarily mean buying a new distribution.