Editing Red Hat Linux (section)

{{short description|Linux distribution}}
{{Redirect|RHL}}
{{distinguish|Fedora Core Linux|Red Hat Enterprise Linux}}
{{Infobox OS
| logo = RedHatLinuxLogoOld.png
| screenshot = GNOME 2.2 on Red Hat Linux 9 -- 2003-02.png
| caption = [[GNOME 2|GNOME 2.2]], the default desktop on Red Hat Linux 9
| developer = [[Red Hat]]
| family = [[Linux]] ([[Unix-like]])
| source_model = [[Open-source software|Open source]]
| working_state = Discontinued
| succeeded_by = [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]], [[Fedora Linux]]
| released = {{start date and age|1995|05|13}}
| latest release version = 9 ''alias'' Shrike
| latest release date = March 31, 2003
| kernel_type = [[Monolithic kernel|Monolithic]] ([[Linux kernel|Linux]])
| userland     = [[GNU Core Utilities|GNU]]
| package_manager = [[RPM Package Manager]]
| license = Various
| website = {{URL|https://www.redhat.com/en}}
| discontinued = yes
}}

'''Red Hat Linux''' was a widely used [[Commercial software|commercial]] [[Open-source software|open-source]] [[Linux distribution]] created by [[Red Hat]] until its discontinuation in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|title=Free Versions of Red Hat Linux to be Discontinued|url=http://www.fusionauthority.com/news/3946-free-versions-of-red-hat-linux-to-be-discontinued.htm|publisher=fusionauthority.com|access-date=2008-03-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207100441/http://www.fusionauthority.com/news/3946-free-versions-of-red-hat-linux-to-be-discontinued.htm|archive-date=2012-02-07}}</ref>

Early releases of Red Hat Linux were called '''Red Hat Commercial Linux'''. Red Hat published the first non-beta release in May 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/History_of_Red_Hat_Linux?rd=History|title = History of Red Hat Linux|access-date = 2018-07-14}}</ref><ref name = "smoogespace">{{cite web|url = https://www.smoogespace.com/documents/behind_the_names.html|publisher=smoogespace.com|title = The Truth Behind Red Hat/Fedora Names|access-date = 2018-07-14}}</ref> It included the [[RPM Package Manager|Red Hat Package Manager]] as its packaging format, and over time RPM has served as the starting point for several other distributions, such as [[Mandriva Linux]] and [[Yellow Dog Linux]].

In 2003, Red Hat discontinued the Red Hat Linux line in favor of [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]] (RHEL) for enterprise environments. [[Fedora Linux]], developed by the community-supported [[Fedora Project]] and sponsored by Red Hat, is a free-of-cost alternative intended for home use. Red Hat Linux 9, the final release, hit its official end-of-life on April 30, 2004, although updates were published for it through 2006 by the [[Fedora Legacy]] project until the updates were discontinued in early 2007.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Fedora Legacy Project|url=http://www.fedoralegacy.org/|publisher=fedoralegacy.org|access-date=2008-03-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905040726/http://www.fedoralegacy.org/|archive-date=2013-09-05}}</ref>