On Fri, Dec 23, 2016 at 18:35:26 +0100, David Craven wrote: > Besides on most systems there is a lot more software than just what is > provided by GNU or Linux. If we want to be precise we can call it a > mostly POSIX distribution.
It's a common misunderstanding that "GNU" refers to only to GNU programs. GNU is a complete operating system, which contains a lot of non-GNU software. GNU didn't develop its own replacements if other free replacements were available. This article does well to explain: https://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html Developing a whole system is a very large project. To bring it into reach, I decided to adapt and use existing pieces of free software wherever that was possible. For example, I decided at the very beginning to use TeX as the principal text formatter; a few years later, I decided to use the X Window System rather than writing another window system for GNU. Because of these decisions, and others like them, the GNU system is not the same as the collection of all GNU software. The GNU system includes programs that are not GNU software, programs that were developed by other people and projects for their own purposes, but which we can use because they are free software. -- Mike Gerwitz Free Software Hacker+Activist | GNU Maintainer & Volunteer GPG: D6E9 B930 028A 6C38 F43B 2388 FEF6 3574 5E6F 6D05 Old: 2217 5B02 E626 BC98 D7C0 C2E5 F22B B815 8EE3 0EAB https://mikegerwitz.com
signature.asc
Description: PGP signature
