Summary

In this chapter, we learned about Linux distributions, with a practical emphasis on choosing the right platform for our needs and performing the related installation procedures. Along the way, we showcased some hands-on, real-world scenarios that we thought are relevant for the topics covered, and to better capture the why or how of what we learned.

Throughout the chapter, the main emphasis has been on the Ubuntu and CentOS Linux distributions. In the spirit of the practical approach, we covered both physical and VM environments running Linux. We also took a short route through the Windows realm, where we touched upon WSL, a modern-day abstraction of Linux as a native Windows application.

We took the exercise of building a Linux workstation with some hands-on examples of how to customize the applications and tools we need for our everyday work.

With the skills learned in this chapter, we hope you'll have a better understanding of how to choose different flavors of Linux distros based on your needs. You've learned how to install and configure Linux on a variety of platforms: server, desktop, VM, and WSL. We also started exploring using the Linux command-line terminal for some of the tasks described in our case studies. You will use some of these skills throughout the rest of the book, but most importantly, you'll now be comfortable quickly deploying the Linux distribution of your choice and testing with it.

In today's increasingly rapid and agile development environments, Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) infrastructures make heavy use of Linux distros. Future chapters will introduce you to containerized workflows, and the knowledge gained in this chapter will help you with the design and deployment efforts of Linux containers.

Starting with the next chapter, we'll take a closer look at the various Linux subsystems, components, services, and applications. Chapter 2, The Linux Filesystem, will familiarize you with the Linux filesystem internals and related tools.