Mageia
Encyclopedia
Mageia is the name of a non-profit organization and Linux distribution
. The first release of the distribution was made on 1 June 2011.
— means "magic" in English
. It is a reference to Leon Mandrake
, the original Mandrake the Magician
; the original name of the Mandriva distribution was (Mandrake Linux
).
employees and community supporters announced that Mandriva Linux
was being forked
and a new, community-driven distribution would be created, called Mageia. This action followed the dismissal of most employees working on the Mandriva distribution when Edge-IT (a company owned by Mandriva) was liquidated. The group explained that they "do not want to be dependent on the economic fluctuations and erratic, unexplained strategic moves of the company."
The Mageia organization intends to manage and coordinate the distribution: code and software hosting and distribution, build system, marketing, foster communication and events.
Linux distribution
A Linux distribution is a member of the family of Unix-like operating systems built on top of the Linux kernel. Such distributions are operating systems including a large collection of software applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, media players, and database applications...
. The first release of the distribution was made on 1 June 2011.
Name
The term "mageia" — μαγεία in GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
— means "magic" in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. It is a reference to Leon Mandrake
Leon Mandrake
Leon Giglio , better known by his stage name Leon Mandrake, was an Italian-American magician, mentalist, illusionist, escapologist, ventriloquist and stunt performer known worldwide as Mandrake the Magician....
, the original Mandrake the Magician
Mandrake the Magician
Mandrake the Magician is a syndicated newspaper comic strip, created by Lee Falk , which began June 11, 1934. Phil Davis soon took over as the strip's illustrator, while Falk continued to script. The strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate.Davis worked on the strip until his death in 1964,...
; the original name of the Mandriva distribution was (Mandrake Linux
Mandriva Linux
Mandriva Linux is a Linux distribution distributed by Mandriva. It uses the RPM Package Manager...
).
Creation
On September 18, 2010, a group of former MandrivaMandriva
Mandriva S.A. is a publicly traded Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A...
employees and community supporters announced that Mandriva Linux
Mandriva Linux
Mandriva Linux is a Linux distribution distributed by Mandriva. It uses the RPM Package Manager...
was being forked
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
and a new, community-driven distribution would be created, called Mageia. This action followed the dismissal of most employees working on the Mandriva distribution when Edge-IT (a company owned by Mandriva) was liquidated. The group explained that they "do not want to be dependent on the economic fluctuations and erratic, unexplained strategic moves of the company."
The Mageia organization intends to manage and coordinate the distribution: code and software hosting and distribution, build system, marketing, foster communication and events.
Goals
The following goals were listed in their announcement on September 18, 2010:.- Make Linux and free and open source softwareFree and open source softwareFree and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...
straight forward to use for everyone; - Provide integrated system configuration tools;
- Keep a high-level of integration between the base system, the desktop (KDE Plasma / GNOMEGNOMEGNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...
) and applications; especially improve third-parties (be it free or proprietary software) integration; - Target new architectures and form-factors;
- Improve understanding of computers and electronics devices users.
See also
- Mandriva LinuxMandriva LinuxMandriva Linux is a Linux distribution distributed by Mandriva. It uses the RPM Package Manager...
distribution - MandrivaMandrivaMandriva S.A. is a publicly traded Linux and open source software company with its headquarters in Paris, France and development center in Curitiba, Brazil. Mandriva, S.A...
, SA (corporation) - PCLinuxOSPCLinuxOSPCLinuxOS, often shortened to PCLOS, is a GNU/Linux distribution, with KDE Plasma Desktop as its default user interface. It is a primarily free software operating system for personal computers aimed at ease of use...
, an existing Linux distribution based on Mandriva Linux - Unity LinuxUnity LinuxUnity Linux is a rolling release GNU/Linux distribution maintained by a group of volunteers and is meant to be a base on which other distributions can build. Its default desktop environment is Openbox...
, a Mandriva-based distribution designed to be a base for end user distributions.