5 ms·
The Linus myth makes an appearance. Nobody's heard of GNU.
by rdiddly 10y ago
The Linus myth makes an appearance. Nobody's heard of GNU.
- umanwizard 10y agoYeah, it's mind-blowing that a guy who refers to himself as a "UNIX Historian" doesn't mention Stallman even once.
- cperciva 10y agoMaybe because GNU's, uhh, Not Unix?
- ploxiln 10y agowink wink, nudge nudge ... say no more!
- gohrt 10y agoLinux Isn't No UniX either.
- umanwizard 10y agoWell, the author claims that Linus Torvalds single-handedly created an operating system; which simply isn't true, regardless of whether GNU is Unix.
- olalonde 10y agoDidn't Linus develop the first versions of the Linux kernel by himself?
- creshal 10y agoA kernel does not make an operating system, you need an userland for it to be useful. And that was GNU.
- olalonde 10y agoAh ok, I see what you mean. I've always thought of "operating system" as the kernel itself (and some set of user land tools as a "distribution") but I can see how it could be interpreted differently.
- umanwizard 10y agoI mean, what counts as the "operating system" is not the point here. It's that, whatever "UNIX" is (operating system, distribution, or whatever you want to call it), is more than just the kernel, and can't meaningfully be said to be replicated by Linux without mentioning GNU.
- mikekchar 10y agoI have found the easiest way for people to understand it is: Android runs a Linux kernel. The systems we often call "Linux" systems are really Linux + GNU + X to get to the same kind of place.
- the_why_of_y 10y agoThat is an interpretation at odds with UNIX history, and basically only applicable to Linux, which is the exception to the rule. I suggest reading this article, it's written for FreeBSD but applies very similarly to Solaris etc. https://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/03 https://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/03
- cyphar 10y agoWhich is why I personally use the term GNU/Linux. Not because the only other component in the system is GNU, but because it preserves the history of the system. It doesn't help than Linus calls his kernel an operating system.
- renox 10y agoCitation please? I don't remember Linus calling the kernel an operating system.
- cyphar 10y agoThe first line of his 1991 announcement comes to mind. He has called it an operating system more recently, but I can't find a link right now. > I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.