Fedora
1. Run by Redhat
2. Community supported.
3. It is the upstream distribution for both CentOS and Red Hat Enterprise
Linux.
4. Acts as a test bed for future versions Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
5. Release life cycle is 6 months (approx.), thus it has short
development, support life cycle.
6. Focusses more on the newer features rather then stability (since it
acts a test bed for future RHEL). Thus, more popular as Desktops
rather then production servers, in case of servers stability is
expected which is not the case with Fedora due to its short life cycle
and support and constant shifting APIs to incorporate newer features.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
1. Run by Redhat
2. Fully supported by Redhat but at a cost, thus it is not "free" to use
although source code can be used freely and distributed.
3. Red Hat support services, service level agreements, and certification
programs are based on RHEL.
4. Long life and support cycles of 7 years (approx) and support extended
to 10 years (approx).
5. Due to long life cycle focus is on stability rather then features.
Thus, ideal for Servers at the Enterprise level.
CentOS (Community Enterprise Operating System)
1. Community run.
2. Clone of RHEL in fact "binary compatible"
3. Long life and support cycles. The support is purely community based
and thus it is free.
4. It is a free drop-in replacement for RHEL.
* Scientific Linux (SL) is another distribution run by "Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory" . It is free and claims to be a clone of RHEL.
What to choose?
A. If stability and long term support are not the issues but cost is -
Fedora
B. If stability and cost are the issues and you want get long term
support service for free (community support) - CentOS
C. But, if you want stability with long term dedicated support and ready
to pay - RHEL
Note:
Who maintains Linux Kernel ?
Linus Torvalds, and he receives patches from different subsystems
Official website: https://kernel.org/
