Taken from the CompTIA IT Fundamentals Exam Guide book (2nd edition, published 2021). I'm not sure if they fixed this in newer versions, if at all.
this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I mean, it's technically correct? The G does stand for GNU, and GNU tools can be used to build Linux. It is indeed worded very badly.
No, that's a big confusion.
I hate the RMS rant about how you're supposed to say "GNU/Linux", but here we're talking about a GNU package that can be used without Linux. It's on FreeBSD and even macOS.
It just goes to show how important it is to come up with a good name. Recursive acronyms are clever and all, but if no one likes saying it they aren't going to. T
No basically all Linux uses gnu Coreurils as a foundation and is therefore best called gnu+Linux. There’s a great RMS rant about this , it’s what the title is referring to.
Aren't their embedded systems that run the Linux kernel without the core-utils (maybe with busybox instead) and would therefore be non-gnu linux variants?
Yep, Alpine Linux does this as well.
Yeah these would be called NonGNU/Linux or Busybox/Linux.
They should make a new version of Linux From Scratch where all you get is the Linux kernel source code and you write the compiler and core utils yourself. Now that would be Linux.
And the next time RMS invent Linux, he can call it whatever he wants.
Calling it now, 2024 will be the year of the Hurd desktop.
GNU is the name of the operating system. GNU packages like glibc and gcc can be used for an operating system. Gzip is a GNU package.