I'm trying to understand how the kernel, distributions, and independent software projects fit together. Who decides what goes into a distro, and how do updates for an app like OBS get into its repositories?
Who actually develops Linux and puts the pieces into a distro?
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Trelven!maybe
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Linux, strictly speaking, is the kernel. Linus Torvalds is its lead maintainer, not the head of the Linux Foundation. Kernel development involves many contributors and maintainers who review and integrate changes. The foundation supports Linux and other projects, but it isn't simply a committee that builds and approves the kernel.
A distribution takes a kernel and combines it with a lot of other software to make a usable operating system. Its maintainers choose how to configure the kernel and may apply their own patches.
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Distro teams make a lot of the choices you're thinking of: which desktop to offer, what software to include, what packages to maintain and how to configure them. Some distros also build on another distro, so they don't necessarily make every package themselves.
The funding varies too. Volunteers and donations are part of the picture, but companies also pay developers and sell services such as support. Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux are examples of distributions with paid support offerings.
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For an app like OBS, the app developers are upstream. They publish the software, and a distribution's package maintainers can take a release, package it for the distro, and put it in a repository. The OBS developers don't normally need to upload it to every distro themselves.
That means an update reaching the OBS project and an update appearing in your package manager are separate steps. Timing can vary by distribution, its packaging work, and its release policy.
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Software doesn't have to be in your distro's official repositories. Developers can offer packages or other installation methods separately, and some target particular distro families. Depending on the format, you might still install it with a package manager or use a different tool.
Repository updates are downloaded from servers made available for that purpose. Those can include mirrors, so they aren't necessarily hosted only on servers run directly by the distro team.
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Trelven!maybe:
So even on a rolling release, a new upstream version won't necessarily appear in the repo immediately?
sideways+receipt_18:
Right. Rolling describes how the distro delivers updates, not a promise that every upstream release is packaged instantly.