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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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Tinkering and Stability (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 week ago by Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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What are some of the easiest ways for a beginner to make their system untable when they start tinkering with it?

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[–] cerement@slrpnk.net 22 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

once you have some experience under your belt, these are non-issues:

deciding to “learn Linux” the hard way by starting with a specialized distro (Slackware, Gentoo, Alpine)
switching to unstable or testing branches before you’re ready ’cause you want bleeding edge or “stable is too far behind”
playing around with third-party repositories before understanding them (PPAs in Ubuntu, AUR in Arch)
bypassing the package manager (especially installing with curl | sudo sh)
changing apps for no other reason than “it hasn’t been updated for a year”

[–] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

changing apps for no other reason than “it hasn’t been updated for a year”

That's the only part I disagree with. Software not updated in a long time can easily become a risk.

Everything else though, spot in.

[–] cerement@slrpnk.net 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

aimed at beginners who confuse “hasn’t been updated for a year” with “hasn’t needed to be updated for a year”

[–] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago

Looking at it from that standpoint, you're onto something on that as well.

[–] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

bypassing the package manager (especially installing with curl | sudo sh

I'll admit that I've done this with a few things that I wanted to install but weren't in my repo...