What is a distro?

Answer: A "distro" is short for "software distribution," which is a set of software components packaged in a single software installer. Since "software distribution" takes awhile (several seconds) to type or say, "distro" has become a common slang abbreviation.

Distros are typically associated with the Linux operating system, which is available in several distributions. Examples include:

CentOS
Debian
Fedora
Gentoo
Mandrake
OpenSUSE
Red Hat
Slackware
Ubuntu

Many of these base distributions have also produced other sub-distributions. While distros are most commonly associated with Linux, they may refer to other software distributions as well.

What is a distro?

Published: March 3, 2010 — by Per Christensson