Important packages in the Linux base system

In short: Every Linux system consists of a core of base packages: kernel, C library, shell, command-line tools, init system and package manager. Desktop and applications build on that.

In more detail: The tools largely come from the GNU project, hence the name GNU/Linux.

In detail

Package	Task
linux (kernel)	hardware, processes, memory, file systems, see [[der-linux-kernel-im-überblick
glibc / musl	C standard library
coreutils	ls, cp, mv, rm, cat, chmod, date, sort
bash / zsh / dash	shell
util-linux	mount, fdisk, lsblk, dmesg, kill
systemd	init system, see [[systemd-und-init-systeme
binutils, gcc, make	compiler tools
findutils, grep, sed, gawk	searching and text processing
tar, gzip, xz, zstd	archives and compression
openssh	access via SSH
sudo	commands as administrator
curl, wget	downloads
iproute2, NetworkManager	networking
udev	device detection
dbus	communication between programs
polkit	permissions for graphical programs
PipeWire, PulseAudio	audio
Mesa	graphics drivers (OpenGL/Vulkan)
git, vim/nano	development and editor standards

• Minimal systems: Alpine uses BusyBox instead of coreutils.
• Meta packages: build-essential (Debian) or base-devel (Arch) bundle tools for compiling.

See also: Dependencies and libraries, Package management on Linux at a glance