this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It's basically a privately hosted repo with a very small set of programs/libraries. PPA is a Personal Package Archive.

If you run Ubuntu (or most Debian derivatives) you can add a PPA as an extra repo and the version of software in that repo will usually be newer than the versions maintained by the distro (or even not present in the distro).

It's not quite like the AUR - the AUR is a central public repo that people submit their packages to. Each PPA is a privately run and maintained repo with their packages in.

It is used by some projects to officially distribute their software but it is also something of a potential security nightmare.