this post was submitted on 13 Oct 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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Why Linux is portrayed as a Penguin?

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[–] nrabulinski 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There’s quite a few Linux distributions or whatever you want to call it that aren’t associated with GNU or are not based on GNU software

[–] raubarno@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] nrabulinski 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So calling those which are just as open but not associated with GNU GNU/Linux is disingenuous, despite the influence of the GNU organization

[–] Adanisi@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does anyone actually do that though?

[–] nrabulinski 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The person I replied to specifically said

Therefore, in technical discussions, I use the word "Linux" to refer to the OS, as "this software is compatible with Linux". But, when I want to stress out software freedom, given a large influence of the GNU project, I say "GNU/Linux".

So they use GNU/Linux to refer to any open system

[–] Adanisi@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago

I must gave missed that. Yeah, calling, for example, Alpine GNU, is wrong.