> When you install Linux, where is the OS downloaded from? Where do the software packages and updates reside? About 1000 mirrors distributed around the world b

> When you install Linux, where is the OS downloaded from? Where do the software packages and updates reside? About 1000 mirrors distributed around the world by independent institutions using donated storage and bandwidth. Some distros may have "corporate-funded" primary mirrors on providers like AWS, but independent mirrors of those still pop up. The majority of the mirrors are universities and ISPs. > What about the source code? Most distros have "source mirrors", as most package managers will build a "source package" which includes the source code used to build the package, in addition to vendor patches and build instructions. If they don't provide a source mirror, you go to wherever the dev kept their source, which used to default to either SourceForge or a personal website, and is now mostly GitHub. By default most distros have a list of mirrors that they try, and they also allow you to specify a specific list of mirrors if the defaults don't work. If your country shuts off internet access to the rest of the world, and there's no mirror in your country, someone can stand up a mirror at a local business and you can use that. And you can install Linux distros from a DVD, CD, floppy disk, USB stick, and local LAN. Even if you only have one copy of the install media for one release of one distro, you can make a mirror out of it.