Summary

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In this chapter, you read about the basics of a distribution. You learned that as different as the various distributions are from each other, in the end they all must solve the same set of problems, such as which software to include and how to lay out the filesystem. Once you understand this, the task of mastering a new distribution is as simple (or as hard!) as figuring out how the distribution solves each of these problems.

In the next three chapters, you'll read about three actual distributions. These chapters discuss the distributions in detail and dissect them to illustrate how each solves these same basic problems. After reading these chapters, you'll have a broad set of real-world details to flesh out the general understanding you gained from this chapter.

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