Chapter 1. Welcome to Ubuntu Differences between the groups lie in their treatment of non-computer applications (like documenta- tion, fonts and binary firmware) and non-free software. Debian distributes a small amount of non-free software from their Internet servers. Ubuntu will also distribute binary drivers in the "restricted" com- ponent on its Internet servers but will not distribute any other software applications that do not meet its own Ubuntu Licensing Guidelines. There are many other distributions that also share the same basic infrastructure (package and archive format). Ubuntu is distinguished from them in a number of ways. First, Ubuntu contributes patches directly to Debian as bugs are fixed during the Ubuntu release pro- cess, not just when the release is actually made. With other Debian-style distributions, the source code and patches are made available in a "big bang" at release time, which makes them difficult to integrate into the upstream HEAD. Second, Ubuntu includes a number of full-time contributors who are also Debian developers. Many of the other distributions that use Debian-style packaging do not include any active Debian contributors. Third, Ubuntu makes much more frequent and fresher releases. Our release policy of releasing every six months is (at the time of writing :-) unique in the Linux distribution world. Ubuntu aims to provide you with a regular stable and security-supported snapshot of the best of the open source world. Linux is an operating system: a series of programs that let you interact with your computer and run other programs. An operating system consists of various fundamental programs which are needed by your computer so that it can communicate and receive instructions from users; read and write data to hard disks, tapes, and printers; control the use of memory; and run other software. The most important part of an operating system is the kernel. In a GNU/Linux system, Linux is the kernel component. The rest of the system consists of other programs, many of which were written by or for the GNU Project. Because the Linux kernel alone does not form a working operating system, we prefer to use the term “GNU/Linux” to refer to systems that many people casually refer to as “Linux”. Linux is modelled on the Unix operating system. From the start, Linux was designed to be a multi- tasking, multi-user system. These facts are enough to make Linux different from other well-known operating systems. However, Linux is even more different than you might imagine. In contrast to other operating systems, nobody owns Linux. Much of its development is done by unpaid volunteers. Development of what later became GNU/Linux began in 1984, when the Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org/) began development of a free Unix-like operating system called GNU. The GNU Project (http://www.gnu.org/) has developed a comprehensive set of free software tools for use with Unix™ and Unix-like operating systems such as Linux. These tools enable users to perform tasks ranging from the mundane (such as copying or removing files from the system) to the arcane (such as writing and compiling programs or doing sophisticated editing in a variety of document formats). While many groups and individuals have contributed to Linux, the largest single contributor is still the Free Software Foundation, which created not only most of the tools used in Linux, but also the philosophy and the community that made Linux possible. 4 1.3. What is GNU/Linux? 1.2.1.5. Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives