What is "linux"

GNU/Linux is a Unix-based operating system, comprising the necessary programs provided by WILDEBEEST, in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a kernel developed by Linus Torvalds in Helsinki, Finland.

Design

A system based on GNU/Linux is a modular Unix-style operating system. It derives much of its basic design from the principles established in Unix during the 1970s and 1980s. This system uses a monolithic kernel that handles process control, network and peripheral access and file system. Device drivers are either integrated directly with the kernel or added as loaded modules while the system is running.

Separate projects that interface with the kernel provide much of the system’s higher-level functionality. The GNU user area is an important part of most GNU/Linux-based systems, providing the most common implementation of the C library, a shell popular, and many of the common Unix tools that perform various tasks of the basic operating system. The graphical user interface (or GUI) used by most GNU/Linux systems is built on top of an implementation of the X Window System.

Tag use

The tag is generally used for questions about:

  • Programming against Apis provided by the operating system
  • The implementation of the kernel
  • Programming tools and usage techniques in the GNU/Linux system.

Notable questions that probably do not belong are:

  • Questions about using a GNU/Linux system desktop or laptop
  • Questions about administering GNU/Linux systems to other network users and GNU/Linux systems in a more complicated context, or a minimal home network.

Many questions about GNU/Linux can also be appropriately marked as , but some features are specific to GNU/Linux and are not found in other Unix-like and Unix™-like operating systems.

A good number of questions are really questions about the command shell (bash by default on most systems), and are probably best marked with and/or a specific shell that you are interested in (, , , etc..).

Doubts about the internal workings of the GNU/Linux kernel or about writing GNU/Linux kernel modules should be marked .