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The name seems to have the same derivation as the name of the XNU kernel underlying Apple's operating systems: > XNU is an abbreviation of X is Not Unix or XNU

The name seems to have the same derivation as the name of the XNU kernel underlying Apple's operating systems: > XNU is an abbreviation of X is Not Unix or XNU is Not Unix. Wikipedia says the first release of XNU was in '96 (perhaps in NeXTSTEP 4.0?), though, far later.

laumars 8y ago
The recursive acronym "something is not something_else" is a pretty common naming convention in software. Much like how there are a hundred different software projects out there called "Yet Another something". So I'm not at all surprised we occasionally get collisions. Still makes for a fun coincidence though.
- monocasa 8y ago
  GNU's Not Unix
  - LukeShu 8y ago
    Do note that Xinu (1981) predates GNU (1983) by several years.
- vram22 8y ago
  >The recursive acronym "something is not something_else" is a pretty common naming convention in software Right. Goes back far, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym#Notable_examples https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym#Notable_exam... I particularly like EINE and ZWEI: From the linked article: >the two MIT Lisp Machine editors called EINE ("EINE Is Not Emacs", German for one) and ZWEI ("ZWEI Was EINE Initially", German for two)
  - dfox 8y ago
    There is nowadays also DREI which officially stands for "Drei replaces EINE's inheritor" or alternatively for lots of other things (see the source for list), particularly "Drei reimplements Emacs intelligently".
    - vram22 8y ago
      Wow, that's cool too. I'm going to create the next one, VIER, for "Vier Is EINE's Replacement". https://translate.google.com/#de/en/Vier https://translate.google.com/#de/en/Vier
Delfino 8y ago
I think it's just Unix backwards. One of my professors worked on this and used it for many examples in our OS course. I can't remember if he said that or if it's just what I thought when I saw it.

laumars 8y ago

The recursive acronym "something is not something_else" is a pretty common naming convention in software. Much like how there are a hundred different software projects out there called "Yet Another something". So I'm not at all surprised we occasionally get collisions. Still makes for a fun coincidence though.

monocasa 8y ago
GNU's Not Unix
- LukeShu 8y ago
  Do note that Xinu (1981) predates GNU (1983) by several years.
vram22 8y ago
>The recursive acronym "something is not something_else" is a pretty common naming convention in software Right. Goes back far, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym#Notable_examples https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_acronym#Notable_exam... I particularly like EINE and ZWEI: From the linked article: >the two MIT Lisp Machine editors called EINE ("EINE Is Not Emacs", German for one) and ZWEI ("ZWEI Was EINE Initially", German for two)
- dfox 8y ago
  There is nowadays also DREI which officially stands for "Drei replaces EINE's inheritor" or alternatively for lots of other things (see the source for list), particularly "Drei reimplements Emacs intelligently".
  - vram22 8y ago
    Wow, that's cool too. I'm going to create the next one, VIER, for "Vier Is EINE's Replacement". https://translate.google.com/#de/en/Vier https://translate.google.com/#de/en/Vier

Delfino 8y ago

I think it's just Unix backwards. One of my professors worked on this and used it for many examples in our OS course. I can't remember if he said that or if it's just what I thought when I saw it.