Re:OpenIndiana Hipster 2019.10 is here – openindiana
by the_why_of_y on Tuesday November 12, 2019 @04:43PM
(#21518488)
Illumos is not just the kernel, it's a complete operating system - as is traditional in UNIX. This idea that you get a kernel from somewhere and a libc from somewhere else and a init from a third place etc. is quite unique to GNU/Linux.
I think it's not ideal to use the term "distribution" for their downstreams like SmartOS etc. because it reminds people of all these GNU/Linux distributions, but a better term doesn't immediately come to mind...
Re:OpenIndiana Hipster 2019.10 is here – openindiana
by DominoTree on Tuesday November 12, 2019 @12:07PM
(#21515743)
I'd just like to interject for a moment...
The OS is packaged the same way Linux is, with different distributions maintained by people outside the kernel devs.