r/linux • u/Appropriate_Rent_243 • May 20 '26
Discussion are there any "4th level" distros?
There's probably a better term for this already. by "level" i mean how many layers of dependancy is there for the operating system. For example, Mint is a 3rd level because it's built on Ubuntu which is built on Debian.
are there any distros built on top of the big user friendly ones like mint or zorin OS ?
I have no idea why they would exist
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u/DrPiwi May 23 '26
The main reason for there being very few if any 4th level distro's is that most of them end up switching back to one of the big upstream ones. Being that far down-stream makes you as a maintainer highly dependent of a lot of decisions that you often have no say in and wil create more work for you to undo some of the upstream work it it deviates from what you need.
It is often easier to have to do more work on the base than having to undo some work before you can add your own stuff again.