[Op-ed] Linux is not an operating system

The point that I've been trying to make is not that Linux is or is not an operating system. It's that what this thread is discussing is "what is an operating system?". It depends on how you like to draw boundaries. And it depends on the context of the issue at hand.

With that, I retire from the field :slightly_smiling_face:

This was snipped from the Ubuntu site...enough said! Cheers!

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Are you in agreement or contention that the Linux kernel itself counts as an operating system? Not that it matters, but you just took a picture from the Ubuntu website and provided hardly any context for sharing it. How are you contributing to this discussion?

A kernel is the lowest part of an operating system. Android is named after the OS which runs with the Linux kernel.

The OS that we actually use, running with the Linux kernel, is GNU. When RMS, who started the GNU project with the $1M he got as a McAthur Genius grant, the first thing he did was make the first FOSS C compiler, gcc. When Dennis Ritchie wanted to create UNIX, he wrote the first C compiler.

The OS was named UNIX, not after the kernel. RMS is entitled to want the OS to be called GNU/Linux; our beloved OS wouldn't exist without the project RMS started. LT himself (understandingly, considering what he has done himself, and human nature) calls the OS Linux himself.

Both men are completely set in their ways, and it is notable Linus, in that famous first post, mentioned that it worked with GCC, so the kernel was built with GNU in mind. The GNU "Hurd" kernel is still unfinished, while the Linux kernel has had thousands of contributors.

And the Roku, Amazon Fire, set top boxes, and a plethora of other devices are built on the Linux kernel, but the kernel is NOT an operating system. It's what makes an operating system work.

So, we can call it Linux, or GNU/Linux. Stallman gets less credit than he deserves, and he's no more irascible than Linus :wink:

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Hah Hah! You must be new here!

"...before the userbase grows much more with this misunderstanding." You mean like they did in 1999 when I first started using linux? Just accept the fact you don't own the language and people can use words other than what is technically correct. In fact, "it's a floor wax AND a dessert topping!" (for the older folks in the audience).

Some people calla GNU/linux distribution "linux" because it's easier and, furthermore, it's all anyone they know has ever called it. The usage is large enough for it to be downright silly for you to "correct" it. It is a de facto definition, whether you like it or not.

Technically, the Linux kernel is the Linux kernel. On top of that sits GNU, Android etc

But, for a similar reason that all vacuum cleaners in the UK are called "hoovers", GNU is called Linux.

That's just the way it is. Some folks can get hot under the collar about that and I understand their reasons for being so and they are welcome to.

I, personally, don't care enough to.

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