Variations of Linux

NORD

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As I'm still a novice to Linux any time I have an issue I look everything up on the webs.
Just wondering what the difference is when I see other commands on things I look up.
For example I use a well known Linux Mint . But, I also see things like choco,yay,sudo yum, ect...
al I have ever learned is things like sudo apt update for example.
What are all these other types of Linux commands? I only know Debian those seem like something else.
 


Ok so you use Debian based distribution,
Sudo changes your terminal status to superuser without having to log in each time you want to do anything major to your system
Debian distributions usually use apt for installing/uninstalling .Deb packages [apt = advanced package tool]
other systems may use a different package manager.
Yum is similar to apt, if its installed it will access the distribution repositories and install .rpm packages and is mainly for RHEL based distributions [some popular distributions using Yum Centos,Alma,Rocky,Fedora]
choco is the package manager for Microsoft
Yay is to do with cloud computing [something I do not do]
 
Arch Linux uses Pacman, Slackware uses Slackpkg, Red Hat, Fedora and Mageia use Yum, Open Suse uses Yast......each Linux distribution has it's own package management system.
 
I'm an average user using Mint Cinnamon...over time I've collected many Terminal commands for doing many things.
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Of cause some wont work in other Distros like MX Linux because it's Debian based...if I worried about this I'd be in the nut house and as I only use Mint it's not a problem.
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Yay is to do with cloud computing [something I do not do]

Not here it's not, Brian.

Yay (Yet Another Yogurt) is an AUR (Arch User Repository) helper that can be substituted for Pacman in order to install packages newer than those the Arch Repositories have in store. You can see my references over at the TuxBot thread.

Open Suse uses Yast.....

For consistency purposes, zypper is the CLI tool.

Briefly

In the case of SUSE Linux (openSUSE, SUSE Enterprise, and derivatives), zypper and YaST are the package managers. While YaST (Yet another Setup Tool) is for administrating, setting up and configuring SUSE Linux, zypper is the CLI interface of the ZYpp package manager. ZYpp is at the core of both zypper and YaST.

Cheers

Wizard

Hi, Tobey ;)
 
Not here it's not, Brian.

Yay (Yet Another Yogurt) is an AUR (Arch User Repository) helper that can be substituted for Pacman in order to install packages newer than those the Arch Repositories have in store. You can see my references over at the TuxBot thread.



For consistency purposes, zypper is the CLI tool.

Briefly



Cheers

Wizard

Hi, Tobey ;)
Yast worked for me until I found out about Zypper.
I kinda miss running that distro.
 
Yast worked for me until I found out about Zypper.
I thought we were keeping it family friendly? I guess not, let me undo my Zypper.
 
I'll admit to a new user it can be daunting at first to figure things like different package management .
There are 3 major packaging systems found in Linux. 1. .deb (Debian and derivatives that includes Mint use .deb package and tools like apt & dpkg to install them. 2. .rpm - Used by Redhat (Fedora) and their off spring. (Redhat and Fedora use dnf and Suse which also uses RPM packaging uses tools called zypper and yast) 3. Arch packaging which uses Pacman and other tools to access their packages.

So if you are using Mint you would use apt or dpkg for installing new packages, updating etc.
Is one system better that another some would say yes. Back in the old days apt was better in that it did automatic dependency checking which RPM based distros did not do well, but that has changed over the years and apt and RPM packaging is about the same now.
This page may help sort out the differences and similarities.
good luck and enjoy the journey! :)
 
I was just looking at different Linux os systems to play with (Not Kali, Kali scares me lol!)
 
What are all these other types of Linux commands? I only know Debian those seem like something else.
If you only care about using Linux Mint or something else based on Debian or Ubuntu, you do not have to know anything else outside the distro you are using. It's because it could become the source of confusion.

Do you want the bleeding edge in software? Do you buy a new computer every year? Are you willing to make adjustments to your system so it's "just right"?

If you have answered "no" to all three questions, you do not have to care about what another distro has which is not fully compatible with Debian or Ubuntu.

Let me tell you a few things. This "yay" was invented because apparently "pacman" wasn't good enough. People become interested in Arch Linux to install stuff found in the AUR, they keep being told it's at their own risk, then when the system breaks they want to blame the operating system. This "yay" apparently wasn't enough so like three, four or more other "AUR helpers" were invented, and it must have been for a reality show about coding in Python.

If you are going to try a different distro, you have to be careful with any of them that use RPM package format: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, Mageia, OpenSUSE, PCLinuxOS, ROSA etc. I don't want to go into any detail, but it's easy to become frustrated with RHEL and direct descendants taking years to change stuff (eg. GNOME behind in version), and a rolling release otherwise out of this group.

(EDIT: I read somewhere that "yum" was obsoleted, at least on Fedora, and it remaps to "dnf". OpenSUSE has "zypper" which is a little bit better. However all of those could be slow unless the user has a fast Internet connection.)

Then there are others like Gentoo and Slackware which aren't for people who quit easily. Slackware does have GSlapt GUI combined with "slapt-get" command-line utility for handling program installation, upgrade and removal a lot like Synaptics on Debian, but it's not "official", and it's not known if Mr. Volkerding would give the go-ahead to make it part of Slackware for v16. Without GSlapt, "you're on your own" installing and removing stuff! In Gentoo, software is usually compiled from source which could take a long time. Somebody who's a programmer doesn't set up stuff right could cause a compilation failure, and therefore inability to install a program. Also this "USE" flags that have to be adjusted according to the capabilities of your system. I don't dare say anything else... this paragraph should have been shorter.

I'm not writing this to discourage you from learning or from using Linux. If you plan to stay with Linux Mint or other Debian- or Ubuntu-derrivative, you could find out stuff that apply to different OS's, but then store it in the library.

One more thing. Do not apply any terminal command line, and do not install any program, suggested on sites like "keep pouring the syrup, too much so I drown" (sorry must write it like this) unless you're absolutely sure you want to do that, and more importantly, you know what you're doing on your system. There is a topic in another site about doing kewl things with "bash" scripts and that sort of thing. Do not go there unless it's what you want to do and you assume full responsibility for system misbehavior afterward.
 
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One more thing. Do not apply any terminal command line, and do not install any program, suggested on sites like "keep pouring the syrup, too much so I drown" (sorry must write it like this) unless you're absolutely sure you want to do that, and more importantly, you know what you're doing on your system. There is a topic in another site about doing kewl things with "bash" scripts and that sort of thing. Do not go there unless it's what you want to do and you assume full responsibility for system misbehavior afterward.
There are many good points in the post above, but this paragraph is great.

All too often, people copy commands from a website and paste them verbatim into their terminals. They know nothing about the website. They run the command because the website said so, without understanding what it does to their systems. Recommended commands often start with "sudo ", which runs the command with superuser (root) privileges.

My advice is the same as Wendy's:
If you do not understand what a command does, take the time to figure it out before you run it. Sometimes I know a command, but see a switch (option) that I do not recognize. I look it up on the man page or dig deeper with a web search before running it. On rare occasions, I may peek at the source code. These exercises take time, but they are also an excellent learning tool. Not only will it help you learn commands and their switches, but it will help you learn how to read and use man pages efficiently and effectively.

The same thing is true for shell scripts from websites. Take the time to read the script to see what it does and how it works. You do not have to understand every last detail or be a shell scripting guru, but a quick skim for "big picture" understanding and due diligence is a good habit to acquire.
 

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