T2 SDE (System Development Environment) is a highly customizable and portable build system for creating complete Linux distributions from source. It serves as a robust toolkit for building everything from embedded platforms to full desktop systems, offering unmatched flexibility and control.
T2 is not a traditional Linux distribution; it’s a source-based meta-distribution. It provides the tools and scripts to build your own custom distro tailored to specific use cases, hardware, or performance goals.
The T2 project traces its roots back to the pioneering ROCK Linux distribution, originally developed in the late 1990s by Claire Wolf. ROCK Linux was an ambitious source-based distribution designed to be clean, modular, and flexible.
Features include:
- Source-Based Build System: Every component is built from source, ensuring transparency, auditability, and control.
- Cross-Compilation Support: Seamlessly build binaries for over 20 architectures, including x86, ARM, RISC-V, PowerPC, MIPS, and more.
- Highly Modular: Over 5000 package recipes available, each independently maintained and configurable.
- Customizable Targets: Build anything from minimal embedded firmware to full-featured desktop and server environments.
- OtherOS Home-brew: Supports building packages on other OS, including macOS and BSD using one unified package repository.
- Long-Term Upkeep: Active development with regular updates, security patches, and modern upstream software integration.
Use cases include:
- Embedded Linux systems and firmware.
- Custom desktop or server distributions.
- Hardened, auditable OS builds for secure deployments.
- Academic and research environments.
- Operating system experimentation and prototyping.
| Working state: | Active |
| Desktop: | - |
| Init Software: | SysV |
| Package Management: | SRC |
| Release Model: | Rolling |
| Platforms: | mips64, powerpc, powerpc64, sparc64, x86, x86_64 |
| Home Page: | t2sde.org |
| Developer: | ExactCODE GmbH |
| This article is part of our Big List of Active Linux Distros which is currently under development. |
What's a Linux distribution ("distro")? |
| A distro provides the user with a desktop environment, preloaded applications, and ways to update and maintain the system. Each distro makes different choices, deciding which open source projects to install and provides custom written programs. They can have different philosophies. Some distros are intended for desktop computers, some for servers without a graphical interface, and others for special uses. Because Linux is an open source operating system, combinations of software vary between Linux distros. |