(Usenet, possibly from DEC) Slang for a full software distribution, as opposed to a patch or upgrade. A source software distribution that has been packaged in such a way that it can (theoretically) be unpacked and installed according to a series of steps using only standard Unix tools, and entirely documented by some reasonable chain of references from the top-level README file. The more general term distribution may imply that special tools or more stringent conditions on the host environment are required. [Jargon File] (1994-11-18)
