Hi All, Today is Linux's Birthday.
By Linux, I mean the core kernel. Not Apps, not Libraries, just the core kernel. 13 years ago, it was on this day that Torvalds sent the famous mail marking the birth of Linux, and since then every one celebrates August 25th as the birthday of Linux. Have a look at the mail that Linus Torvalds sent, *********************** Why August 25th? There are actually three "birthdays" one can identify for Linux: The first was July 3rd, 1991, when Linus posted his first query to a newsgroup for some information he needed to help him with a project. That project was, of course, Linux: From:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Linus Benedict Torvalds) Newsgroup: comp.os.minix Subject: GCC-1.40 and a posix question Message-ID: 1991Jul13, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: 3 Jul 91 10:00:50 GMT Hello netlanders, Due a project I'm working on (in minix), I'm interested in the posix standard definition. Could somebody please point me to a (preferably) machine-readable format of the latest posix rules? Ftp-sites would be nice. Linus Torvalds [EMAIL PROTECTED] The next was August 25th, 1991, when Linus first let the cat out of the bag about his project: From:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Linus Benedict Torvalds) Newsgroup: comp.os.minix Subject: What would you like to see most in minix? Summary: small poll for my new operating system Message-ID: 1991Aug25, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT Organization: University of Helsinki. Hello everybody out there using minix- I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix; as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-sytem due to practical reasons)among other things. I've currently ported bash (1.08) an gcc (1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that i'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-) Linus Torvalds [EMAIL PROTECTED] Finally came Linus' call to arms on October 5th, 1991, when he posted this: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Linus Benedict Torvalds) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Free minix-like kernel sources for 386-AT Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 5 Oct 91 05:41:06 GMT Organization: University of Helsinki Do you pine for the nice days of minix-1.1, when men were men and wrote their own device drivers? Are you without a nice project and just dying to cut your teeth on a OS you can try to modify for your needs? Are you finding it frustrating when everything works on minix? No more all- nighters to get a nifty program working? Then this post might be just for you :-) As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I'm working on a free version of a minix-lookalike for AT-386 computers. It has finally reached the stage where it's even usable (though may not be depending on what you want), and I am willing to put out the sources for wider distribution. It is just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully run bash/gcc/gnu-make/gnu-sed/compress etc under it. Three clear candidates for a birthday, but one can, of course, have only one. The 3-Jul-1991 message does not actually mention what the project *is*, while the 5-Oct-1991 message refers to his message earlier, which clearly mentions "I'm doing a (free) operating system". Therefore, by convention, Linux was "born" on 25-Aug-1991. By the way, the name "Linux" didn't come from Linus. That name was given by Ari Lemke, who chose it over Linus' preferred name for the OS when he created the subdirectory for the source code on nic.funet.fi. So what was Linus' preferred name for his baby? "Freax" One can see that while Linus may be a great programmer and leader of (wo)men, he really should leave the process of naming projects to other people ;-) Regards, Amit Kumar, Ph- +91 98692 77769 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ ilugd mailinglist -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd Archives at: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.user-groups.linux.delhi http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
