Linux or GNU/Linux?

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There has always been a controversy regarding the name of the Linux Operating System. Some believe to be called only Linux, others call it GNU/Linux. After all, there is a correct way to refer to this Operating System?

linux terminology operating-system
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    Look at mine I call Escaminosflau, but it goes from each one and level of intimacy with it.

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    remembering it was a joke

  • I like and support terminology questions here, as long as they are focused on programming and development (scope of our site), so I voted to close, because it is not the case, however already have some useful answers. Don’t take this the wrong way? Other terminology questions since the development environment seem ok so feel free to ask :)

  • Tranquil @Guilhermenascimento, no problem. I should have asked that question in the chat room. Now, what is the most appropriate procedure to close this issue?

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    You can wait, maybe it will be closed or not, it will depend on the votes, if you vote to keep open maybe it means that the community accepts this type of question well (I’m not talking about terminology, but about the difference of environments), goes even from the community. If more vote to close it will be published and you can win votes with it, but no one else will be able to answer, so just wait :D

  • for the people (GNU) who made the other programs base around the kernel (LINUX) it is important to leave their mark, for the other mortals just one name that referencing all this freedom that is free software

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    Soon GNU will have its own kernel: https://xkcd.com/1508/

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The question already answers that. If the greatest experts on the subject don’t get along about this, it is not an answer in Sopt that will tell which is correct.

There seems to be no doubt that the kernel is just Linux. The system as a whole for me is also Linux, but the FSF thinks it is GNU/Linux. In practice only FSF fanatics call Linux GNU/Linux. The fact is that this doesn’t change anyone’s life and only paranoid really spend more than a few seconds on the subject.

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    +1 for the frankness só paranoicos realmente gastam mais que alguns segundos sobre o tema good...

  • Also known as GNU/Chatos. :)

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Linux is just the core (kernel) Operating System, responsible for carrying out communication between hardware (printers, monitors, keyboard, etc) and software.

Already GNU (which is a recursive acronym for GNU's not Unix) is a project developed by Richard Stallman in 1983 that aims to create a complete operating system with free software only. The GNU project was responsible for developing several programs used in the GNU/Linux Operating System, such as GNU C Compiler (gcc), the Emacs text editor, several programs that you use daily at the terminal, among many other utilities.

So we have that Linux is the kernel of an Operating System, not very useful in itself for end-users, and the programs of the GNU project are the other programs that, in conjunction with Linux, make up the GNU/Linux Operating System.

Richard Stallman’s initial idea was to get GNU itself to develop a kernel for the Operating System, but as it was never done (until today there is no stable version of the GNU kernel)when Linus Torvalds released Linux in 1991 it was incorporated into GNU programs and distributed as a complete operating system.

Ultimately, neither party agrees on how the Operating System should be called, and the name Linux is the most used only because it is simpler than GNU/Linux.

It’s worth reading what the two main developers in this story have to say on the subject:

Richard Stallman in a interview with ZNET in 2005:

Linux was not Designed with the Goal of liberating Cyberspace, and the motives for Linux would not have Given us the Whole GNU/Linux system.

Today tens of Millions of users are using an Operating system that was developed so they could have Freedom - but they don’t know this, because they think the system is Linux and that it was developed by a student "just for fun'."

And the opinion of Torvalds:

Umm, this Discussion has Gone on quite long enough, Thank you very Much.

It doesn’t really Matter what people call Linux, as long as credit is Given Where credit is due (on Both Sides). Personally, I’ll very Much continue to call it "Linux"

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GNU is certainly part of building the Linux operating system but I don’t think it should take all the credit.

The Linux kernel itself did not come from a GNU package, if it were not for the Linux kernel, there would be no GNU operating system, I think each Linux distribution should be called by its name as Red Hat, Debian, among others and not GNU/Linux.

In my opinion, if you make a Linux distribution you will put the name as GNU/Linux ? Certainly not.

Tip :)

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