<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> <title>GNU/Linux Distros - GNU Operating System</title> <link rel="alternate" title="Free GNU/Linux distributions" href="http://www.gnu.org/distros/distros.rss" type="application/rss+xml" /> <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> <!--#include virtual="/distros/po/distros.translist" --> <h2>GNU/Linux Distros</h2> <p> Free GNU/Linux system distributions (or “distros”) only include and only propose free software. They reject non-free applications, non-free programming platforms, non-free drivers, non-free firmware “blobs”, and any other non-free software and documentation. If they discover that by mistake some had been included, they remove it. </p> <h3 id="freeDistros">Free GNU/Linux Distros</h3> <p> We recommend that you use a free GNU/Linux system distribution, one that does not include proprietary software at all. That way you can be sure that you are not installing any non-free programs. Here is our list of such distros:<br /> <a href="/distros/free-distros.html"> Free GNU/Linux distributions</a>.</p> <p> All of these existing distros could use more development help. Thus, if you want to make an effective contribution to free GNU/Linux distributions, we suggest that you join the development of an existing free distro rather that starting a new free distro. </p> <h3 id="distroGuidelines">Free Distro Guidelines</h3> <p> Here is the list of problems that can prevent a distro from being considered entirely free:<br /> <a href="/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html"> Guidelines for free system distributions</a>.</p> <h3 id="otherDistros">Common Distros</h3> <p> Many common and well-known GNU/Linux software distributions don't meet our guidelines. You can read about their problems here:<br /> <a href="/distros/common-distros.html"> Why we can't endorse many well-known GNU/Linux distros</a>.</p> <p> We appeal to the developers of these distros to remove the non-free parts and thus make them entirely free software. </p> <h3 id="whyImportant">Why Is This Important?</h3> <p> When a GNU/Linux distro includes nonfree software, it causes two kinds of problems:</p> <ul> <li>If you install it, you may install and use nonfree software.</li> <li>It gives people the wrong idea of what the goal is.</li> </ul> <p> The first problem is a direct problem: it affects users of the distro, if they install the nonfree software. However, the second problem is the more important one, because it affects the community as a whole. </p> <p> The developers of nonfree distros don't say, “We apologize for the presence of nonfree components in our distribution. We don't know what possessed us to include them. We hope that next release we will keep our minds on freedom.” If they did, they would have less of a bad influence. </p> <p> Instead, they generally present the nonfree software in their systems as a positive feature; they say that their goal is “the best possible user experience”, or something like that, rather than freedom. In other words, they lead people to place convenience above freedom — working directly against our campaign to make freedom the primary goal. </p> <p> The fact that these distros don't deliver freedom is why we don't endorse them. That they teach people not to value freedom is why we are strongly concerned about this issue. </p> </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> <div id="footer"> <p> Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. <br /> Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>. </p> <p> Please see the <a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article. </p> <p> Copyright © 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. </p> <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>. </p> <p> Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> $Date: 2012/05/19 01:17:40 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div><!-- <div id="translations"> --> <!-- <h4>Translations of this page</h4> --> <!-- --> <!-- Please keep this list alphabetical by language code. --> <!-- Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. --> <!-- Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. --> <!-- If you add a new language here, please --> <!-- advise web-translators@gnu.org and add it to --> <!-- - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html --> <!-- - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" --> <!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias --> <!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases --> <!-- Please also check you have the language code right; see: --> <!-- http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php --> <!-- If the 2-letter ISO 639-1 code is not available, --> <!-- use the 3-letter ISO 639-2. --> <!-- Please use W3C normative character entities. --> <!-- --> <!-- See also '(web-trans)Capitalization': --> <!-- http://gnu.org/software/trans-coord/manual/web-trans/html_node/Capitalization.html --> <!-- --> <!-- --> <!-- <ul class="translations-list"> --> <!-- Arabic --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.ar.html">العربية</a> [ar]</li> --> <!-- German --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.de.html">Deutsch</a> [de]</li> --> <!-- English --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.html">English</a> [en]</li> --> <!-- Spanish --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.es.html">español</a> [es]</li> --> <!-- French --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.fr.html">français</a> [fr]</li> --> <!-- Italian --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.it.html">italiano</a> [it]</li> --> <!-- Malayalam --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.ml.html">മലയാളം</a> [ml]</li> --> <!-- Polish --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.pl.html">polski</a> [pl]</li> --> <!-- Russian --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.ru.html">русский</a> [ru]</li> --> <!-- Slovak --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.sk.html">slovenčina</a> [sk]</li> --> <!-- Chinese (Simplified) --> <!-- <li><a href="/distros/distros.zh-cn.html">简体中文</a> [zh-cn]</li> --> <!-- </ul> --> <!-- </div> --></div> </body> </html>