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On Wednesday 07 August 2002 01:30 am, Klaus-J. Wolf wrote: |
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> Mickey Mullin wrote: |
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> > "Linux," today, really means "GNU/Linux." I know no one who runs a Linux |
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> > kernel with MS Visual C++ to compile software. |
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> |
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> But there is a way of using the Linux kernel and BSD (also free) |
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> userland tools. Some folks are working on that. |
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That seems like an awful lot of work just to avoid typing 4 characters (or |
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speaking one syllable alloud). |
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I still think the best compromise is to have dual official names, or to drop |
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Linux from the name entirely. I.e. ether |
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Gentoo |
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OR |
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Gentoo GNU/Linux concurrent with Gentoo Linux. |
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Both sides of the debate have valid points. When I remember to, I tend to |
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call it GNU/Linux out of respect for Richard Stallman's contribution |
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(contributing 90% of the core operating system is nothing to sneeze at, and |
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the plethora of third party stuff running on top of that simply underscores |
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the value of that contribution. Spider's point WRT Python and Gentoo |
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specifically is a good one given portage's dependence on it, but as for KDE, |
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etc. none of that can even remotely be considered a core part of the |
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operating system, so that portion of the argument misses the point entirely |
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IMHO) and out of respect for RMSes wishes, but even Richard Stallman makes it |
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quite clear that everyone is FREE to do as they wish, and that includes |
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disregarding his wishes and calling it "Linux" (he stated that specifically |
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in a speech he gave at the University of Chicago regarding Free Software). |
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Hardly something a raving fanatic would say, is it? |
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In the spirit of that Freedom why not accept that kind of compromise (either |
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dual naming the distro or dropping the word Linux entirely), and let people |
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use whichever name suits them best? Yes, there will be the zealots (on both |
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sides of the argument) who will insist that it is their way or the highway, |
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but I think the vast majority of people on either side could live with either |
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compromise just fine. |
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All that been said, whatever the distro is called, I'll call it GNU/Linux when |
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I remember, and Linux when I forget (which is probably most common). Like |
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most things, the name isn't nearly as important as the underlying freedom, |
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and the whole GNU/Linux v. Linux thing seems to forget that sometimes, much |
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like the Republicans do when they try to amend the US constitution to ban |
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flag burning, forgetting entirely about the freedoms for which the flag is |
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merely a symbol. |
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Jean. |
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