My take on (GNU/)?Linux Re: [PLUG] Another topic: the PLUG FAQ

Kevin Theobald kevintheobald at vzavenue.net
Sat Nov 22 17:52:02 UTC 2003


Russell Senior writes:

 > Think about why you find their advocacy annoying.  To me, it seems to
 > spring from the idea, whether expressed or assumed, that you *must*
 > call it GNU, whereas I think what ought to be and maybe is expressed
 > (but sometimes not heard) is that you *can* call it GNU, and by
 > calling it GNU you might help people learn about important ideas.

What I find annoying is not that they choose to call it GNU/Linux, but
the silly way they make a point about it, like saying "the kernel that
is known as Linux" instead of "the Linux kernel" -- every single time.
(That's what the FSF speaker I heard did -- I don't know if they all
do that.)  It's like a guy I knew who was so fussy about using
politically correct terms that he would globally replace "black" with
"African-American" -- even when we were discussing the *5th Century*.

I've heard claims that Stallman won't talk to reporters unless they
promise to write "GNU/Linux" in their articles.  So it sounds like
they (or at least he) says you *must* call it GNU.

Actually, if they'd just come out and say it's about getting
credit, I could relate to that, as I used to be in academia, where
"getting credit" is everything.  But their argument that the GNU
prefix somehow teaches people about the important issues of free (as
in speech) software makes it sound like they claim a monopoly on
virtue.  If I write a cool app and decide to release it under the
GPL, would sticking "GNU/" in front of the name somehow make it more
clear to most people that this is "software libre"?  (Especially since
the G in GPL now means General, rather than GNU.)

Anyway, my original point was that the PLUG FAQ doesn't adequately
acknowledge the non-GNU, non-Linus contributions to the collection of
programs making up what is now generally considered to be a Linux (or
GNU/Linux) system.  (I'm being deliberately vague here since it's hard
to say exactly what is part of Linux.  Can you say that KDE or Gnome
are "part of Linux" when many distros just have one or the other?  Or
should we say they're *both* part of Linux?)  And that might be
"confusing to newbies" (to borrow an argument from the other thread).

Therefore, I would suggest changing the wording to something like:
------------------------------------------------------------------
Linux began as an operating system kernel initially created in 1991 by Linus
Torvalds (then a graduate student at the University of Helsinki in
Finland). The kernel acts as the mediator for your programs (processes)
and for your hardware. It takes care of memory management for all
running processes, and gives them access to processor cycles. The kernel
also provides a portable interface for processes to talk to your
hardware.

To be fully useful in a modern computer system, a kernel typically
requires the support of other software, such as libraries,
compilers, editors and shells.  It just so happened that
the Free Software Foundation (FSF) had been undergoing a massive
effort (since 1983) to develop an operating system called <i>GNU's Not
Unix</i> (GNU). By 1991, FSF had developed everything needed for an
operating system except for the kernel.

In 1991, Linus combined his kernel with the GNU System and
finally the world had a 100% free (Libre) operating system. Both the
GNU System and the Linux kernel were released under the General
Public License (usually called the GPL). The GPL is a "free" software
license; this means free in the sense of liberty (Frech libre) not in
the sense of price (think free speech not free beer). It gives you the
freedom to "copy, distribute, study, change, and improve the
software."

With the freedom given by the GPL, many other programmers were able to
make improvements to the kernel and GNU programs, or to contribute
their own components and software to the project.  The result is a
"full-featured" system with graphical layers, desktop environments,
programming tools, and applications.  Many of these programs are also
available with other operating systems, so they are not, strictly
speaking, exclusively a part of Linux.  However, most Linux
distributions typically come with a substantial portion of the
GPL-licensed programs that run on Linux.

Many people prefer to call this system "GNU/Linux" in recognition of
the substantial contributions of the FSF and the GNU project.
Although PLUG has chosen to use the simpler, more commonly-accepted
term Linux, we honor the fundamentally important work that GNU and others have
contributed.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Randal L. Schwartz writes:
 > Knowing RMS and Linus personally, I request that you respect the
 > expressed wishes of Linus on this, and just call it Linux.  RMS can
 > and will get his legendary status by other means.

How did you meet them?

BTW, are you the guy who wrote the Perl books for O'Reilly?  If so,
which McMenamin pub did you write Learning Perl in?  And did they ever
give you any free (as in beer) beer for mentioning them? :-)

Kevin





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