1. About Mandriva Linux

Mandriva Linux is a GNU/Linux distribution supported by Mandriva S.A. which was born on the Internet in 1998. Its main goal was and still is to provide an easy-to-use and friendly GNU/Linux system. Mandriva's two pillars are open source and collaborative work.

[Note]Note

On April 7th 2005 the Mandrakesoft company changed its name to Mandriva to reflect its merger with Brazil-based Conectiva. Its core product, Mandrakelinux, became Mandriva Linux.

1.1. Contacting the Mandriva Linux Community

The following are various Internet links pointing you to the most important Mandriva Linux-related sources. If you wish to know more about the Mandriva company, connect to our web site. You can also check out the Mandriva Linux distribution web site and all its derivatives.

Mandriva Expert is Mandriva's support platform. It offers a new experience based on trust and the pleasure of rewarding others for their contributions.

We also invite you to subscribe to the various mailing lists where the Mandriva Linux community demonstrates its vivacity and keenness.

Please also remember to connect to our security page. It gathers all security-related material about Mandriva Linux distributions. You will find security and bug advisories, as well as kernel update procedures, the different security-oriented mailing lists which you can join, and Mandriva Online. This page is a must for any server administrator or user concerned about security.

1.2. Join the Club!

Mandriva offers a wide range of advantages through its Mandriva Club:

  • download commercial software normally only available in retail packs, such as special hardware drivers, commercial applications, freeware, and demo versions;

  • vote for and propose new software through a volunteer-run RPM voting system;

  • access more than 50,000 RPM packages for all Mandriva Linux distributions;

  • obtain discounts for products and services on Mandriva Store;

  • access a better mirror list, exclusive to Club members;

  • read multilingual forums and articles.

  • access Mandriva's Knowledge Base, a wiki-based site which holds documentation on many subjects such as administration, connectivity, troubleshooting, and more;

  • chat with the Mandriva Linux developers on the Club Chat;

  • enhance your GNU/Linux knowledge through Mandriva's e-training lessons.

By financing Mandriva through the Mandriva Club you will directly enhance the Mandriva Linux distribution and help us provide the best possible GNU/Linux desktop to our users.

1.3. Subscribing to Mandriva Online

Mandriva offers a very convenient way to keep your system automatically up-to-date, keeping away bugs and fixing security holes. Visit the Mandriva Online Web site to learn more about this service.

1.4. Purchasing Mandriva Products

Mandriva Linux users may purchase products on-line through the Mandriva Store. You will not only find Mandriva Linux software, operating systems and “live” boot CDs (such as Move), but also special subscription offers, support, third-party software and licenses, documentation, GNU/Linux-related books, as well as other Mandriva goodies.

1.5. Contributing to Mandriva Linux

The skills of the many talented folks who use Mandriva Linux can be very useful in the making of the Mandriva Linux system:

  • Packaging. A GNU/Linux system is mainly made of programs picked up on the Internet. They have to be packaged in order to work together.

  • Programming. There are many, many projects directly supported by Mandriva: find the one which most appeals to you and offer your help to the main developer(s).

  • Internationalization. You can help us translate web pages, programs and their respective documentation.

Consult the development projects page to learn more about how you can contribute to the evolution of Mandriva Linux.