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Most of what actually runs in userland on a desktop and even server isn't GNU. Sure, you got the glibc, bash and coreutils and a bunch of other shell tools. A l
by rndgermandude 8y ago
Most of what actually runs in userland on a desktop and even server isn't GNU. Sure, you got the glibc, bash and coreutils and a bunch of other shell tools. A lot of it is just a matter of preference and/or tradition; there is nothing making a lot of these tools unique and you could supplant a lot with alternatives e.g. from the BSDs.
But your modern desktop is probably Gnome or KDE or similar or something like i3 or similar. And tons of users run a shell other than bash. So why not KDE/Linux?
Your servers probably run stuff like containers, or node servers or php ones or java ones, or some database software and the like. How much of that is developed under the umbrella of GNU?
Your browsers most likely aren't GNU, your music players probably are not either, your videos get decoded and encoded by ffmpeg. Few probably edit their documents in GNU software, and even when it comes to text, GNU editors are far from dominant.
Few systems probably have their usage dominated by GNU (not merely GPL licensed) software, even if you count time spent in glibc.
So, to still insist that it's "GNU/Linux" sounds... a bit silly and narcissistic to me, given all the non GNU stuff that runs on a typical system and doesn't get - let alone requests - special mention.
- bloak 8y agoIt seems reasonable to use the term "GNU/Linux" to refer to a system based on Linux and the GNU C library and utilities. You could also just call it "Linux", but with the term "GNU/Linux" you distinguish it from Android and BusyBox-based systems (with some other, smaller C library, such as musl), which are also "Linux". Certainly, you'd expect most of the CPU time to be spent in application software, but we're talking about how to name the platform, aren't we?
- amyjess 8y agoThe platform nowadays is heavily dependent on systemd and either GTK+ or Qt, none of which are GNU.
- LukeShu 8y agoGTK+ is a GNU project.
- amyjess 8y agoIt started out as one, but it hasn't been run by GNU in years and years, probably well over a decade now. It's currently operated by the GNOME Foundation.
- LukeShu 8y agogtk.org, the active and current homepage of GTK+, says right there on the homepage: > GTK+ is free software and part of the GNU Project. GTK+ development does take place on gitlab.gnome.org, but it is still part of GNU (unlike the rest of GNOME, which did start out as part of GNU, but hasn't been run by GNU for years and years).