Linux Mint is a community-developed

Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...

. It is based on

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

and designed for

x86-64 x86-64 (also known as x64, x86_64, AMD64, and Intel 64) is a 64-bit extension of the x86 instruction set architecture, instruction set. It was announced in 1999 and first available in the AMD Opteron family in 2003. It introduces two new ope ...

based computers; another variant is based on

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

which is named Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) and has both 64-bit and

IA-32 IA-32 (short for "Intel Architecture, 32-bit", commonly called ''i386'') is the 32-bit version of the x86 instruction set architecture, designed by Intel and first implemented in the i386, 80386 microprocessor in 1985. IA-32 is the first incarn ...

support. The Linux Mint project started in 2006 and it has since become one of the most popular

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

operating systems for desktop PCs. Linux Mint comes bundled with a variety of

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...

applications. It has its own

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphi ...

, called

Cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

, although it also offers

Xfce Xfce or XFCE (pronounced as four individual letters, ) is a Free and open-source software, free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. Xfce aims to be fast and Lightweight software, lightweight whil ...

and MATE as alternatives by default. The latest release is Linux Mint 22.1 "Xia", released on January 16, 2025; as a long-term support (LTS) release, it will be supported until 2029.

History

2006–2013

Linux Mint began in 2006 with a beta release, 1.0, code-named 'Ada', based on

Kubuntu Kubuntu ( ) is an official flavor of the Ubuntu operating system that uses the KDE Plasma Desktop Environment instead of the GNOME desktop environment. As part of the Ubuntu project, Kubuntu uses the same underlying systems. Kubuntu shares th ...

and using its

KDE KDE is an international free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that enable collaborative work on its projects. Its products include the KDE Plasma gra ...

interface. Linux Mint 2.0 'Barbara' was the first version to use Ubuntu as its

codebase In software development, a codebase (or code base) is a collection of source code used to build a particular software system, application, or software component. Typically, a codebase includes only human-written source code system files; thu ...

and its

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

interface. It had few users until the release of Linux Mint 3.0, 'Cassandra'. Linux Mint 2.0 was based on Ubuntu 6.10, using Ubuntu's package repositories and using it as a codebase. It then followed its own codebase, building each release from the previous one, but continuing to use the package repositories of the latest Ubuntu release. This made the two systems' bases almost identical, guaranteeing full compatibility between them, rather than requiring Mint to be a fork. Initially, there were two Linux Mint releases per year, timed to be approximately one month after

releases (which in turn are about one month after

releases and two months after

X Window System The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems. X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...

releases). In 2008, Linux Mint adopted the same release cycle as Ubuntu and dropped its minor version number before releasing version 5 'Elyssa', and every fourth release was labeled a LTS version, indicating that it was supported (with updates) for longer than traditional releases. The same year, in an effort to increase compatibility between the two systems, Linux Mint decided to abandon its codebase and starting with Linux Mint 6 'Felicia' each release was based completely on the latest Ubuntu release, built directly from it, and made available approximately one month after the corresponding Ubuntu release (usually in May or November). In 2010, Linux Mint released Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE). Unlike the other Ubuntu-based editions (Ubuntu Mint), LMDE was originally a

rolling release Rolling release, also known as rolling update or continuous delivery, is a concept in software development of frequently delivering updates to applications. This is in contrast to a ''standard'' or '' point release'' development model which uses ...

based directly on

and not tied to Ubuntu packages or its release schedule. It was announced on May 27, 2015, that the Linux Mint team would no longer support the original rolling release version of LMDE after January 1, 2016. LMDE 2 'Betsy' was a long-term support release based on Debian Jessie. When LMDE 2 was released, it was announced that all LMDE users would be automatically upgraded to new versions of MintTools software and new desktop environments before they were released into the main edition of Linux Mint.

Since 2014

In 2014 the successor to 17 Qiana was announced to be 17.1 Rebecca; the development team said that from a technical point of view Linux Mint was no longer tied to the Ubuntu schedule, so it could be released at any time, although the six-month cycle provided rhythm, leading to a late November 2014 target. On February 20, 2016, the Linux Mint website was breached by unknown hackers who briefly replaced download links for a version of Linux Mint with a modified version containing malware. The hackers also breached the database of the website's user forum. Linux Mint immediately took its server offline and implemented enhanced security configurations for their website and forum. Beginning with the release of Linux Mint 18 (Sarah), the OEM version, and the No Codecs version was discontinued in order to reduce the number of

ISO image An optical disc image (or ISO image, from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media) is a disk image that contains everything that would be written to an optical disc, disk sector by disc sector, including the optical disc file system. IS ...

s that needed to be maintained. Starting with Linux Mint 20, only

64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit central processing units (CPU) and arithmetic logic units (ALU) are those that are based on processor registers, a ...

architecture is supported. This is because

Canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, ''canonical exampl ...

decided to drop

32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

support from Ubuntu 20.04, which is the base from which Linux Mint 20 is derived. The Debian-based LMDE continues to support 32-bit processors.

Features

Linux Mint primarily uses

free and open-source software Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

. Before version 18, some

proprietary {{Short pages monitor ;

References and notes

External links

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{{Linux distributions 2006 software Free software operating systems Linux distributions Ubuntu derivatives X86-64 Linux distributions