Welcome to the Adélie Linux 1.0 Administrator's Handbook. You'll learn a lot about how to adminster your Adélie Linux computer. We'll get started by looking at how Adélie Linux compares to other popular operating environments, and some of the software used that we will learn more about in the chapters ahead.

Adélie Linux is a Linux distribution focused on security, speed, reliability, and correctness. Since it is based on the Linux kernel, it shares some common traits with other Linux distributions. However, it has many unique facets as well. One of the defining differences of Adélie Linux is the commitment to run on many different hardware platforms. The first comparison we will make is the hardware platforms that various environments support. Environment DEC Alpha ARM 32 / 64 HP PA-RISC Intel 32 / 64 m68K MIPS PowerPC 32 / 64 S390x SPARC64 Adélie Linux ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✓ / ✓ DevThis port is in active development. It is not currently available yet. Dev ✓ / ✓ ✗ Dev Alpine Linux ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ / ✗ ✓ ✗ Arch Linux ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✗An unofficial port exists, but official support was removed in October 2018. / ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ / ✗ ✗ ✗ Debian GNU/Linux ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✓This is an unofficial Debian port and may be removed from Debian at any time. ✓ / ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ / ✓ ✓ ✓ Fedora ✗ ✗ / ✓ ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ / ✗ ✓ ✗ FreeBSD ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✓ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✓ Gentoo Linux ✓ ✓ / ✗ ✓ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✓ ✓ Mac OS X ✗ ✗ / ✓ ✗ ✗ / ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓Mac OS X supported 32-bit and 64-bit PowerPC until 10.5. ✗ ✗ Windows ✗ ✗ / ✓ ✗ ✓ / ✓ ✗ ✗ ✗ / ✗ ✗ ✗ Next, let's compare the policies of these environments. Environment Release cycle Libre software Proprietary software Package manager Adélie Linux Release every 18 months; support for 3 years All libre licenses allowed Not available APK Alpine Linux Release every 6 months; support for 2 years All libre licenses allowed Limited APK Arch Linux "Rolling"; no stable release All libre licenses allowed Non-libre software in core repositories Pacman Debian GNU/Linux Release every 2 years; support for 3 years All libre licenses allowed Available in specific repository only dpkg or apt-get FreeBSD Release every 2 years; support varies All libre licenses allowed Not available pkg-ng, or compiled from ports Gentoo Linux Weekly snapshots; no stable release All libre licenses allowed Available only if user allows them Portage Mac OS X Stable release every year; support for 2 years BSD and MIT-style only; most GPL software not allowed Most system components App Store Windows "Rolling"; no stable release All libre licenses allowed All system components Various