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Minor nitpick, but it's "gnuplot" (a pun on the Newplot), the program is not affiliated with GNU in any way. It's not even licensed under the GPL.
by filmor 10y ago
Minor nitpick, but it's "gnuplot" (a pun on the Newplot), the program is not affiliated with GNU in any way. It's not even licensed under the GPL.
- dTal 10y agoWow I didn't know this. And apparently you cant even redistribute modified source, only patchsets (like Minix) meaning it can't easily be forked. Bit scandalous that something that brands itself "gnu" isn't even free software by GNU standards.
- skissane 10y agoThey picked the name in the mid-1980s, around the same time as the GNU project was founded. Well, the GNU project came first - the GNU manifesto dates to 1985, whereas I believe the first release of gnuplot was 1986 - and the gnuplot authors were apparently aware of the GNU project at the time, but I don't know if they foresaw that GNU would be as successful as it has been. I think the gnuplot authors' naming choice is more defensible in its historical context than if someone made the same naming decision today; and, now they've been using their current name for around 30 years, they obviously don't want to change it.