this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Too lazy to click, but it's probably browser data. By default pretty much all browsers report OS info while browsing.
The intent is to ensure compatibility with the sites, and it's also used to push relevant info to the front, e.g., going to the "download" page and having the first download link be a .deb instead of .exe.
It's unfortunately also used as part of the data collected for browser "fingerprinting" so it can be a touchy subject and may get spoofed by some users, leading to erroneous data, but in aggregate it can be used to give a general sense of OS and browser market share for studies like this.