On Tue, 2004-02-03 at 15:43, Adam Jessop Ravitch wrote: > Quoting Richard Stallman from the "The GNU Project" (type C-h C-p in > Emacs):
> We call this system version GNU/Linux, to express its composition as > a combination of the GNU system with Linux as the kernel." Most modern distros have at their core that all important library, the standard C library, or libc. Most distros use the Gnu libc or glibc. Without that library nothing would function. Thus it does form a core and vital part of any Linux system. In addition, it is true that the majority of command-line tools are GNU tools from the FSF. However the inclusion of GNU software is hardly necessary in all cases. Many embedded distros don't use glibc at all, instead opting for a small faster library like dietlibc or some other libc (BSD has it's own version too). Also all of the commandline tools previously mentioned in this thread have very good gnu-compatible but non-gnu equivalents. In fact, embedded environments often use a single executable to fulfil the function of many gnu utilities, such as busybox. Therefore to make blanket statements such as there can be no complete system without GNU or that every Linux distribution must be referred to as GNU/Linux are egotiscal at best. I do not object to the term GNU/Linux, and I recognize with gratitude the work of Stallman, but think it a little silly that one would always expect linux to be referred to as GNU/Linux, especially considering all the work that has been done by other groups such as KDE, GNOME, Redhat, and others that is equally or more important to those who actually use the system. > > > > > ____________________ > BYU Unix Users Group > http://uug.byu.edu/ > ___________________________________________________________________ > List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list -- Michael L Torrie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
