মেইলিং লিস্টেও এই বিষয়ও আলোচনা দেখে বেশ খানিকটা অবাক ও হতাশও হলাম। GNU/Linux বা Linux নিয়ে মারামারি না করে যে যার পছন্দের নাম ডাকলেই তো হয়। এজন্য ডেবিয়ানের প্যাকেজ ক্যাটালগও ঘাটা লাগে না, আবার রেভ্যুলুশন ওএস মুভির ডাকাতিকৃত (পাইরেটেড) সংস্করণ দেখারও প্রয়োজন হয় না।
আমাদের মূল্যবান সময় এই আলোচনার পেছনে কি না করলেই নয়? একটু গুগল করলেই বিশ্বজুড়ে শত শত মেইলিং লিস্টে একই বিষয় নিয়ে আলোচনা খুঁজে পাবেন। দয়া করে সেগুলো পড়ুন। আর যেহেতু Linux একটি Generalized Term হয়ে গিয়েছে লিনাক্স-ভিত্তিক অপারেটিং সিস্টেমগুলোকে বোঝানোর জন্য, আমার মনে হঠাৎ করে নতুন বিপ্লব সৃষ্টি করে GNU/Linux এ রিনেম করা উচিৎ। এতে সাধারণের মাঝে কনফিউশনই বাড়বে। এর চেয়ে বরং ভালো হয় যদি লঞ্চপ্যাডে গিয়ে দু'লাইন কোড ঘেটে দেখি, তিনচারটি বাগ সাবমিট করি কিংবা কয়েকটি স্ট্রিং বাংলায় অনুবাদ করি। টিউটোরিয়াল লিখে, ফোরাম বা IRC তে অন্যদের সাহায্য করেও আমরা "কার্যকরী অবদান" রাখতে পারি। এই বিষয় নিয়ে প্যারার পর প্যারা লিখলে মনে হয় না OSS মুভমেন্ট বা লিনাক্স ব্যবহারকারীদের কোন কাজে আসবে। ধন্যবাদ। On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 8:53 AM, Abu Ashraf Masnun <mas...@gmail.com> wrote: > Nice explanation Nasim vai :) > > It's interesting how people believe Linus wouldn't be able to compile the > Linux Kernel without GCC and how Linux would be incomplete without GNU > tools. I wonder if they have ever compiled C by hand or actually know about > the coreutils. > > Again, Linus also clarifies the GNU/Linux issue in Revolution OS and calls > the idea hilarious. But people seem to always quote RMS instead of Linus > when it comes to that movie. > > > On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 7:19 AM, Nasimul Haque <nasim.ha...@gmail.com > >wrote: > > > Let's start with what is GNU/Linux actually. In the beginning of the > Linux, > > people started building linux based distro bundling GNU utilities (which > is > > now > > called coreutils in most distros). For those old distros it might be ok > to > > call > > them GNU/Linux. Because that was all in those days. Now let's see what is > > in > > the tools. There are exactly 101 small UNIX-clone tools in this package. > > Check > > yourself by > > > > $ dpkg -L coreutils | grep '/bin/' | wc -l > > > > GNU is "GNU is Not Unix". From the name you can see that GNU was born to > be > > a free/open clone of UNIX. Therefore it created all the free/open clones > of > > UNIX command line tools. All of these command line tools: cat, dd, tar, > > uname, > > etc. were the main product of GNU. However, to have a complete UNIX-like > > computing system GNU lacked a OS kernel. They did start the GNU HURD > > project. > > And they failed to create it. > > > > In the very beginning of Linux days, when Linux distros were only command > > line > > OS. The GNU/Linux made sense. But as soon as the plethora of desktop > > software > > like X, Window manager, DE, Office suite became a part of the OS, calling > > a Linux OS GNU/Linux not only is irrelevant but also humorous. Those 101 > > utility tools are only the part of tens of thousands of software packaged > > in > > now-a-days Linux distributions. > > > > Innovation never stops on certain things. If GCC were not available Linus > > would > > build his kernel on one of several other available compilers. In fact, > > there > > were better compiler available at the time, such as PCC. People could > build > > Linux distros with BSD utils, which has the exact same number of tools as > > those > > came from the original UNIX. Even if no-one would do that we would still > > have > > the BSDs. > > > > Now let's see why uname reports linux as GNU/Linux. First of all, in the > > original uname there is no such option for 'operating system'. It is > added > > by > > the GNU people. Some BSD uname implement this option to be compatible > with > > GNU > > uname. But that -o is actually -s. Just try to run "uname -o" in an OSX > > machine. > > > > The most interesting part of uname reporting GNU/Linux is that they > > hard-coded > > the name in their tools. Let's run the following commands in Precise > > Pangolin: > > > > $ apt-get source coreutils > > $ sed -n '30554,30594p' coreutils-8.13/configure > > > > and you will see the following output: > > > > winnt*) os='Windows NT';; > > vos*) os='VOS';; > > sysv*) os='Unix System V';; > > superux*) os='SUPER-UX';; > > sunos*) os='SunOS';; > > stop*) os='STOP';; > > sco*) os='SCO Unix';; > > riscos*) os='RISC OS';; > > riscix*) os='RISCiX';; > > qnx*) os='QNX';; > > pw32*) os='PW32';; > > ptx*) os='ptx';; > > plan9*) os='Plan 9';; > > osf*) os='Tru64';; > > os2*) os='OS/2';; > > openbsd*) os='OpenBSD';; > > nsk*) os='NonStop Kernel';; > > nonstopux*) os='NonStop-UX';; > > netbsd*-gnu*) os='GNU/NetBSD';; # NetBSD kernel+libc, GNU > > userland > > netbsd*) os='NetBSD';; > > mirbsd*) os='MirBSD';; > > knetbsd*-gnu) os='GNU/kNetBSD';; # NetBSD kernel, GNU > > libc+userland > > kfreebsd*-gnu) os='GNU/kFreeBSD';; # FreeBSD kernel, GNU > > libc+userland > > msdosdjgpp*) os='DJGPP';; > > mpeix*) os='MPE/iX';; > > mint*) os='MiNT';; > > mingw*) os='MinGW';; > > lynxos*) os='LynxOS';; > > linux*) os='GNU/Linux';; > > hpux*) os='HP-UX';; > > hiux*) os='HI-UX';; > > gnu*) os='GNU';; > > freebsd*) os='FreeBSD';; > > dgux*) os='DG/UX';; > > bsdi*) os='BSD/OS';; > > bsd*) os='BSD';; > > beos*) os='BeOS';; > > aux*) os='A/UX';; > > atheos*) os='AtheOS';; > > amigaos*) os='Amiga OS';; > > aix*) os='AIX';; > > > > Now take a close look. This is where gnu tools set the so-called > "operating > > system" option. You have certainly noticed that they have re-labeled any > > kind > > of linux as GNU/Linux by hand. You will also see that only when gnu is > > installed in bsd distros it sets GNU/ prefix on them otherwise not. So > the > > GNU > > people force the GNU/Linux name on Linux. > > > > GIMP is not from GNU. It's from the GNOME foundation which is completely > > seperate entity. GIMP only has GNU in its name. It doesn't have anything > > with > > GNU. > > > > It makes more sense to call a Linux distro GNOME/Linux (if it's GNOME > > based) or > > KDE/Linux (if it's KDE) than GNU/Linux as people use those thousands of > GUI > > software rather than those 101 small command line tools. > > > > The GNU tools were included just because Linus compiled the kernel with > GCC > > and > > that made it more GNU tools compatible than the BSD ones. Also the > earlier > > distro creators thought it would be good idea to just build the distro > with > > the > > compatible one rather than make it compatible with BSDs. And it is good > > that we > > have choice to make. > > > > -- > > M. Nasimul Haque > > Appliansys, Coventry, UK > > http://www.nasim.me.uk > > -- > > Ubuntu Bangladesh > > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bd > > > > > > -- > Abu Ashraf Masnun | +8801711960803 | http://masnun.me > -- > Ubuntu Bangladesh > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bd > -- Non-geek & (Pythoneer | Javaman | *nixDude | OSS_fan) -- Ubuntu Bangladesh https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bd
