The linux kernel is the central part of an operating system. It is a computer program with several functions: communications between different services, manages memory and resources, etc. It is only about 1Mb, more or less.
A linux distribution is the complete range of computer programs, desktop (KDE, Gnome, XFCE), openoffice, and the rest of open source software, using the linux kernel. You can think that a linux distribution is an ice with different flavours, but an ice ...
For instance, you can see a list of several distributions at http://distrowatch.com .
The linux kernel itself is available at http://www.kernel.org
In your second question, I assume you want to compile the linux kernel, isn't it? In that case, I recommend you to start with some reading:
"Linux kernel in a Nutshell" http://www.kroah.com/lkn/
There are also many documentation in http://www.linux.org and, of course,
http://kernelnewbies.org/
is an excellent starting point. Hope it helps!
Kind regards,
Rafael
2009/6/18 Vipul Jain <vipulsj@xxxxxxxxx>
Hi All,
I would like to know what's the difference between a linux distribution and linux kernel.
Secondly, if I would like to add an binary in the /boot directory of a particular distribution
as part of make command (i.e. when I building the kernel image vmlinux) is it possible?
Regards,
Vipul.
