Honest differences

[Cinder & Smoke]

Im looking for what makes linux distributions honestly different from one another. I can understand that one kernel to the next may be different. And an updated, more efficent kernel is basically an updated, more efficent operating system. But does it just pretty much end there, and the only difference in distributions JUST the actual distribution of included software? Cant the additional programs be downloaded to any distribution? For instance, F7 comes with a ton of stuff, compared to something small like VectorLinux. But, cant I pretty much make my VectorLinux exactly like F7 if I just download and install everything F7 comes with? Am I missing something here? Am I way off base?

[SlowJet]

Interesting questions.

It sure does seem that a package is a package and that it should be plug & play.
All things being equal, for the most part it is true except for 4 areas.

1. Compilers (and libs) vs. Source code.
2. Scripts (to startup, shutdown restart, change run level, how it run, when it is run).
3. Dependency (new or old functionality is dependent above and below within a compatibility stack.) I. G. python 2.5, gcc 4.1.2, libdata (ide to scsi)
4. New stuff (SELinux, LVM, tool sets, GUI's)

If you know how to and what to do with the above then you can do a lot, like make your own distribution. But you still need one more thing, a sane package manager.

And to make that sane, you needs a set of finite rules and standards for creating pakages, how they are used and what resources they use, etc.
And this is why the newer the tech and spec, the backwards compatibility fades into yesteryear, as the "change" seeps into the consciousness of the fearful.

And then, TA-DA, the future explodes into the present, for short visit.

SJ

[dshaw256]

SJ, you're a poet. :-)

To add to your excellent answer, I think that a certain amount of "intent" figures into it as well. Compare Debian to Fedora Core, for example. I tried Debian and couldn't make it go at all. They assumed much, much more intimate knowledge of Linux than I had. Everthing was "edit this file" then "edit that file". I gave up and tried Fedora Core 4, and am now running FC6. And it's like night and day, even though the distributions contain basically the same set of packages.

Debian wants to look like lego blocks. Fedora Core wants to look like a finished, friendly interface. They are fundamentally different. Sez me, anyway.