On Monday 23 December 2013 12:01:06 Liam Lindholm wrote: > Dear fellow Linux kernel hackers: > > It has come to my attention that Richard M. Stallman, founder of the > Free Software Foundation and creator of the GNU project, has once > again set out to fragment our grassroots community. > > Recently, Mr. Stallman has started a new push for acknowledgement of > GNU in Linux. No, not the familiar “GNU/Linux” that we're all sick and > tired of hearing about but, instead, a failed anagram of these same > terms. The campaign is called “Say LiGNUx” and demands that users of > any Linux-kernel operating system employing GNU software (which > comprises less than 15% of most modern Linux distributions nowadays) > call the operating system “LiGNUx.” > > His presentation on the “Say LiGNUx” campaign is served in PNG format > at http://imgur.com/a/beY7E so you can see the insanity for yourself. > > Yes, that's right. LiGNUx, pronounced like “pig cooks,” would be the > name of choice for our work in the last two decades. Stallman suggests > that we trash our existing name recognition and all common sense to > adopt his academic linguistic exercise in masturbatory politics that > represents the kernel's license and some poorly-built utilities that > no one uses anymore. > > Mr. Stallman even suggests that users who refuse to say LiGNUx should > instead install GNU/HURD so as to remove any ambiguity about licenses > and nomenclature. What the hell?! > > When is the last time someone named their operating system after the > license the kernel is released under? Such an esoteric naming method > is madness. Should Apple call OS X “Apple/XNU?” Or how about the > Berkeley operating systems? Should they call their products “FreeBSD” > or “OpenBSD?” Should Microsoft call their operating system “Microsoft > Windows?” The suggestion is patently absurd. > > We should not give in to the wailing demands of this zealotry. Mr. > Stallman clearly needs a break from promoting an increasingly > irrelevant software platform. Perhaps that means banning him from > LKML, or asking Linus to suggest some vacation therapy for poor Mr. > Stallman and his zealotry, or having the Linux Foundation issue a > press release distancing themselves from RMS, GNU, and the Free > Software Foundation. > > Whatever the next course of action is, we should all ignore Mr. > Stallman and continue to call Linux as Linux. > > I am interested to hear your thoughts on the topic, fellow Linux kernel hackers. > > Merry Christmas. > > Liam Oskar Lindholm, > Linux Kernel Hacker
As much a I respect and acknowledge RMS for starting up GNU (even more after the Snowden leaks), I don't see any reason to put a g in Linux. First of all: Don't change your name unless you're exceptionally good at PR. Secondly: Linux -- the kernel -- is not part of GNU (a lot of the standard userspace utilities are though). Surely GNU's not Linux. I remember it being a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix!" (and there is a lot of things GNU isn't). How about renaming GNU to LNG as in "Linux' Not GNU!"?. Or even *NG, since really not that much GPL'ed software is GNU. (Not to start a flame war, but apropos I'd hate saying "My computer Hurds...".) Oh, well... Merry Christmas. *<:-) -Martin -- I bet Earth makes fun of other planets for having no life -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [email protected] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
