It seems either I am not looking in the right places or documentation is scarce.
Where to find an illustration of a typical Linux distro? Something to say that this is a kernel, these are the components, this is X11, GNOME, these are the components, etc.
I have been deciphering documents assuming you know what all these things are, and it seems I am missing something.
Question Update
all answers posted are dramatically helpful. it's a big structure to look at
- the interactive Linux kernel map is helpful to understand the layers and functions of the kernel
- the Linux technology reference is a good thing as well to tell you the different components by example =, and where it sits in layers and functions
- the Linux from scratch project, is the ultimate reference, although it requires a fresh machine to work on but I believe it would be covering 90% of what a programmer needs to know about Linux structure
- IBM's article about Linux kernel anatomy
- O'Reilly's illustration is another good reference
Of course, Linux is not only a kernel, and to get to understand the whole distro anatomy, we need to understand how to speak to the kernel using the system call interface (SCI). and then we need to look at the Desktop environments available, such as GNOME, KDE, X11, CDE, etc.
Best Answer
I would have a look at LinuxFromScratch (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/). Its a project that guides you through all the steps that are needed to assemble a Linux distro from the ground up. When i compiled my own from-scratch-distro a few years ago it was a lot of work but it was worth it. I've learned a lot in that process.