this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
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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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The main disadvantage is that it's less automated, and also you don't get automatic updates without any other package management system in place. If you're using something like e.g. source packages from the AUR then that solves both those problems and there's no downsides (beyond extra computational power/time you spend waiting) so long as the package maintainer does their job correctly.
Not... really? I guess if you're downloading random tarballs off the internet and running make install without checking the integrity or trustworthiness of what you're downloading then you could get a virus. But if you're certain the source you're getting is legitimate, then I suppose the only way building from source could "mess up your system" is if you mess up your system libraries or something whilst trying to install dependencies.