basic kernel question

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

On Friday 25 April 2003 08:02 am, Praveen Ray wrote:
> I always wondered what is the basic difference between major Linux distros?
> Does each vendor modify the stock kernel or only the packaging is
> different? Am I missing something (so far as kernel is considered) if I do
> not use RHAS and simply build my own kernel? Had RedHat somehow modified
> the kernel to make it 'better' or the only difference is that RHAS comes
> with all sort of peripheral software prepackaged?

It's not so much that they modify the kernel (though some do), it's WHICH 
kernel they include, what options they compile it with, and what versions of 
all the applications and libraries come with them.  And, of course, how good 
the installer is.

The main concern is do you want a distro with the latest and greatest bleeding 
edge, or a distro that's more conservative and stable with a longer release 
cycle.  Ancillary to that is how compatible and consistent the whole package 
is.  For instance, Red Hat caught flack on some releases for shipping a 
bastardized GCC that was generally incompatible with other things out there, 
and in fact they had to ship two GCC's because the main one would not compile 
their own kernel!  So they shipped a package called gcc and gcc-compat.

There are other issues, like support, documentation, GUI configuration tools 
(if you're into that sort of thing), completeness, popularity, etc.

--
DDDD   David Kramer         david at thekramers.net       http://thekramers.net
DK KD  
DKK D  "I heard if you play the Windows XP CD backwards, you get a 
DK KD   satanic message."
DDDD   "That's nothing, if you play it forward, it installs Windows XP"