this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!
TIL thank you for sharing!
That's a Stallman rant/copypasta. Calling it GNU/Linux isn't very common outside of his fans.
It's also wrong, There are Linux distributions that don't use the GNU userland such as Alpine which uses musl IIRC.
I chose to use the copypasta because it does an excellent job at answering the question asked, 'What is Linux?'.
The answer being that it is but one part of a complete OS, rather than the OS itself, and that if he chooses, he may indeed be able to incorporate the kernel into his own OS project.
Nobody said you have to use GNU, just that it's by far the most common form in which a Linux-based operating system takes.
While that all is true, I'm pretty sure it is pasta as well fyi