Rolling distribution

Software distributions, of which Linux distributions form a sizable proportion, are commonly referred to as distros, with rolling release distributions commonly referred to as rolling distros. When used as an adjective, instead of a noun, rolling release is often shortened to rolling, when referring to distributions, software, or development models.

A rolling release is typically implemented using small and frequent updates. However, simply having updates does not automatically mean that a piece of software is using a rolling release cycle; for this, the philosophy of developers must be to work with one code branch, versus discrete versions. When the rolling release is employed as the development model, software updates are typically delivered to users by a package manager on the user's personal computer, accessing through the internet a remote software repository (often via a download mirror) stored on an internet file server.

Not all software distributions based on, derived from, or related to rolling release distributions are necessarily rolling releases themselves. An example of this is ConnochaetOS (formerly DeLi Linux), which is a standard release distribution based on the rolling release distribution Arch Linux. Similarly, most of the software contained in a rolling distribution's software stack is usually standard release.

Rolling release software distributions in general often fall into one or more of the following software development model categories and subcategories:

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