Editing Linux distribution (section)

==Statistics==
There are no official figures on the popularity, adoption, downloads or [[installed base]] of Linux distributions.

There are also no official figures for the total number of Linux systems,<ref name="Prashanth Venkataram">{{cite web|title=Counter-Debunking the 1% myth|url=http://dasublogbyprashanth.blogspot.com/2010/09/counter-debunking-1-myth.html|publisher=dasublogbyprashanth.blogspot.com|access-date=1 October 2011|author=Prashanth Venkataram|date=2010-09-10|archive-date=September 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915003154/http://dasublogbyprashanth.blogspot.com/2010/09/counter-debunking-1-myth.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://earthweb.com/how-many-people-use-linux/|title = Linux Users: How Many People Use Linux in 2024?|access-date = 2008-05-23|last =Wise|first =Jason|date =August 10, 2023|archive-date = September 28, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230928014700/https://earthweb.com/how-many-people-use-linux/|url-status = live}}</ref> partly due to the difficulty of quantifying the number of [[personal computer|PCs]] running Linux (see [[Desktop Linux adoption]]), since many users [[download]] Linux distributions. Hence, the sales figures for Linux systems and commercial Linux distributions indicate a much lower number of Linux systems and level of [[Linux adoption]] than is the case; this is mainly due to Linux being [[free and open-source software]] that can be downloaded [[free of charge]].<ref name="Prashanth Venkataram" /><ref name="gK7DI">{{cite web|author=Caitlyn Martin|title=Debunking the 1% myth|url=http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2010/09/debunking-the-1-myth.html|publisher=oreilly.com|access-date=1 October 2011|date=2010-09-07|archive-date=February 27, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227195510/http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2010/09/debunking-the-1-myth.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> A Linux Counter Project had kept track of a running [[guesstimate]] of the number of Linux systems, but did not distinguish between rolling release and standard release distributions. It ceased operation in August 2018, though a few related blog posts were created through October 2018.<ref name="dAoq7">{{cite web|author=C. Lohner|title=The Linuxcounter project is closed!|url=https://www.linuxcounter.net/index.html|access-date=28 August 2019|archive-date=August 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831013404/https://www.linuxcounter.net/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Desktop usage statistical reports for particular Linux distributions have been collected and published since July 2014<ref name="y9sXd">{{cite web|author=A. Ponomarenko|title=Linux Hardware Trends|url=https://linux-hardware.org/?view=trends|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920064241/https://github.com/linuxhw/Trends|archive-date=September 20, 2020|access-date=11 March 2020}}</ref> by the Linux Hardware Project.