dist

Dist is an abbreviation with multiple meanings across fields, most commonly relating to distribution, distance, or software packaging. Its interpretation depends on context, and it often denotes a product of a process rather than a single concept.

In software development and packaging, dist refers to a directory that holds built release artifacts such as tarballs, wheels, or installers. When a project is prepared for distribution, tooling typically places the resulting files in a dist/ directory. In Python, for example, setup tools generate source and binary distributions (sdist and bdist) and write the files to dist/. Similar conventions appear in other languages, where a build or release command writes artifacts into a dist-like folder.

In the context of operating systems, dist is short for distribution. A Linux distribution, or distro, is a complete operating system built from the Linux kernel and a set of software packages. The term dist also casually refers to the act of distributing software and updates through package repositories and download mirrors.

In programming and mathematics, dist is often shorthand for distance or a probability distribution. Many codebases use dist to denote a distance metric between points or to refer to a distribution object or family in statistics. Some libraries expose functions or data structures named dist for these purposes, reflecting the underlying concept of spreading or measuring between entities.

Beyond technical uses, distribution is a general term in logistics, publishing, and statistics. Overall, dist serves as a flexible shorthand tied to the idea of sharing, spreading, or measuring across various domains.