Fifteen years after the release of the GNU/Linux Operating System, its users still call it ‘Linux’, an incorrect name, which is only a piece of the system and should not be used to avoid misinterpretation.

Linux is a kernel, a nucleus, also called the core of the operating system, which has as function manage the peripherals and the resources of the machine, that is, an essential part of the system but not all of it. Therefore, we can conclude, even though justice is not the only reason, that is not fair calling all the Operating System ‘Linux’, once that name is only a piece of all.

At this point of discussion, is necessary go back in the history, decade of 80, when Richard Stallman created the GNU Project [2]. The goals of GNU Project, were to create an operating system totally free, a system containing only free softwares that do not restrict users anyway and did not make users to sign licenses and terms to do not share these softwares with anyone.

Once the Unix was proprietary and the GNU Project’s major goal was to build an operating system totally free, they built several softwares based on the structure and philosophy of Unix softwares, preserving the freedom. Hence GNU is a recursive acronym for GNU is Not Unix.

Being aware of GNU Project’s history, you will notice that some years after the project starts (1984), at the beginning of decade 90, the GNU Operating System was almost totally finished. All the softwares, with the collaboration of people from all over the world, were finished. But there was still one thing to finish it; the kernel. They had started GNU Hurd development, the waited kernel to fill this gap, but the Finnish programmer, Linus Torvalds, filled it switching the license of his kernel (Linux) such as free software, which was published one year before, with a recommendation that it will be used with the GNU Operating System.

So, besides of the justice question, Linux after long time of GNU Project’s beginning, got included as part of it. Then, GNU is not a part of Linux, Linux is a part of GNU, although it does not make much difference.

The problem is that some users have several reasons to call only Linux. Maybe because Linux is minor, more simple to pronounce (It’s pronounced LI-nux and guh-noo LInux in the case of GNU/Linux), bad faith or only ignorance, because does not know the term. Soon as we can see, more one time, the right way to call all the system is GNU/Linux, seen that we want to refer to all the system, or only Linux if you are referring just for the kernel.

A bigger problem yet, using this nomenclature, is the disrespect to the many users who worked hard in the GNU Project and instead of being recognized equally to the developers of the Linux, they are forgotten, even though GNU is bigger, older and more complex than Linux. If you do not believe in what you just read, keep on reading and you will obtain arguments about this affirmation, which include applications such as GNU C Libraries (glibc), GNU Emacs and other. Clicking here you will be redirected to a list of GNU packages in the package tree of Slackware current (A GNU/Linux distribution). The Linux limited itself only as kernel-headers, kernel-modules and kernel-source.

In agreement with the public server of the kernel Linux, the size of the Linux for download is:

linux-2.6.22.tar.gz 08-Jul-2007 23:48 54M (234 MB uncompressed)

Using for example the Slackware distribution of GNU/Linux, the size of partial operating System GNU (all the packages of Project GNU in the Slackware) is:

Operating System GNU (Partial) 01-07-2007 23:23:00 (1178 MB uncompressed)

*: wasn’t calculated packages in /testing directory.

Therefore, isn’t logical to call the whole Operating System GNU/Linux only linux, because the GNU Operating System is bigger than Linux (four times bigger, in agreement with data already cited).

I hope that at the ending of this article you may properly understand why some people call GNU/Linux, other call different names and what mean these nomenclatures. Remember that the GNU Project also thinks about “free speech”, that is, you have all right to call for the name you want or like, but if you want to respect efforts from some people, do not have bad faith. Call it by the proper name; GNU/Linux.

Copyright 2007~2009 Marcel Ribeiro Dantas

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this entire document without royalty provided the copyright notice, the document’s official URL, and this permission notice are preserved.

http://ribeirodantas.com.br/blog/2007/07/19/gnulinux-or-linux/

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