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The Linux distro timeline is an extensive family tree of all things Linux
Most commercial products run a fairly set course; you get Microsoft Office 1.5, then 1.6, 3.0, 4.0, all the way up to office 2010 (For Windows, at least). It's a fairly orderly progression, with version numbers rising over time – pretty easy to follow.
Open-source projects are a different beast, however. When enough developers don't like the direction a project is going, they sometimes just create a fork and go on developing their own product. Sometimes projects have to fork for legal reasons, and sometimes it's a business decision, too.
The bottom line is that if you could plot the Linux timeline, it would look more like a crazy family tree than like an orderly progression of versions. And what do you know, one Donjan Rodic has gone and done just that, in the form of the GNU/Linux distro timeline.
Since this is an SVG file, it's not just a static image, and is capable of all sorts of aweosme: you can use Ctrl-F to search for a specific distro, and when you click a distro's name, you are transported to its home page.
Of course, since this is such a nerdy project, it wasn't produced entirely by hand. Donjan created an application just for creating the map, and then went ahead and open-sourced it. So... who wants to use it to create a timeline of all Web browsers?
Comments
9
Subscribe to comments5hRreDDyOct 31st 2010 2:41PM
A really interesting read(?). It makes you realise how much influence the Linux platform has in the everyday computing world and how few people actually know it.
CameronOct 31st 2010 3:08PM
Now, who wants to fork the application and then use it to track the forks of the application?
JoshNov 1st 2010 11:53AM
A fork within a fork? It's dangerous. Could we plant the idea for another fork within that fork within the fork? Or is that impossible?
hectormaciasa79Oct 31st 2010 3:13PM
Very funny I couldnt find Minix, and AFAIK Torvalds derived Linux originally from that place.
But I could be wrong.
hectormaciasa79Oct 31st 2010 3:15PM
Linux from Scratch between 1999 and 2000, mmmmm...
kaaposcNov 1st 2010 10:14AM
Linus did not derive any code. It was just a Minix computer he wrote code on. If I write a poem on a DataCopy(R) paper, it does not mean my poem is derived from anything related to DataCopy(R) :) Please, do not spread old SCO-ish myth about derived works..
rpetNov 1st 2010 10:21AM
I'm afraid you're wrong.
Early Linux kernel development was done on a MINIX host system but they are very different: MINIX has a Microkernel architecture and Linux is a monolithic kernel.
See http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/brown/
ArielNov 1st 2010 4:02AM
Mozilla Japan did create the family tree for the major rendering engines available today: http://www.foxkeh.com/downloads/history/history-original.pdf
browsers like links, its derivatives, lynx, and other text-mode browsers/libraries are not included, but the document should prove an useful starting point...
Erez ZukermanNov 1st 2010 4:27AM
Hey, that's really cool! Too bad it ends just after 2006 (IE 7), but it's very readable. A great starting point indeed!