thoughts/post/2017-06-03-gnu-is-more-than...

# GNU is more than a collection of software

GNU is more than just a collection of software; it is an operating system:

  [https://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html]()

Many hackers and activists within the free software community don't
understand this well, and it's a shame to see attacks on GNU's relevance (as
measured by programs written by GNU on a given system) going
unchallenged. Software for GNU was written by the GNU Project when a
suitable free program was not available. It wouldn't have made sense to
write everything from scratch if free programs already solved the problem.

<!-- more -->

When we say GNU/Linux, we really are referring to the GNU operating system
that just happens to be using Linux. It could be using the FreeBSD kernel
([GNU/kFreeBSD][]). It could be using a Windows kernel with a Linux API
([GNU/kWindows][]). It could be using the [Hurd][] ([GNU/Hurd][]). The
disambiguation is important, but the end result is pretty much the same.

There are many systems that use Linux that are not GNU. Android is not GNU,
for example. We shouldn't attempt to call those systems "GNU/Linux"
blindly. (Also note how it's called "Android", not "Android/Linux", or just
"Linux". Somehow GNU is controversial, though.)

So if you see someone challenging GNU's relevance because GNU/Linux contains
so much software that isn't part of a GNU package, then please provide the
above link, and kindly explain to them that their observation is correct,
because GNU is an operating system, not a collection of programs.

[GNU/kFreeBSD]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD
[GNU/kWindows]: https://mikegerwitz.com/2016/04/GNU-kWindows
[Hurd]: https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/
[GNU/Hurd]: https://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/
Convert posts to markdown files This was considerable effort, and took a bit more time than I had hoped. While newer posts were written with Markdown, previous ones were writen with my own Markdown-like formatting, but they had enough differences that it was quite an effort to get things updated. I also checked the HTML output of each, though I didn't read every article in detail. Some of these were more substantial than others; National Uproar, for example. These conversions were markup translations: the actual text remains unchanged, except in one minor instance to add text for the sake of providing some text to hold a link to a quote. Any changes to post text will happen in future commits so that the diffs are clearly visible. 2018-12-17 23:31:08 -05:00			`# GNU is more than a collection of software`

			`GNU is more than just a collection of software; it is an operating system:`

			`[https://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html]()`

			`Many hackers and activists within the free software community don't`
			`understand this well, and it's a shame to see attacks on GNU's relevance (as`
			`measured by programs written by GNU on a given system) going`
			`unchallenged. Software for GNU was written by the GNU Project when a`
			`suitable free program was not available. It wouldn't have made sense to`
			`write everything from scratch if free programs already solved the problem.`

			`<!-- more -->`

			`When we say GNU/Linux, we really are referring to the GNU operating system`
			`that just happens to be using Linux. It could be using the FreeBSD kernel`
			`([GNU/kFreeBSD][]). It could be using a Windows kernel with a Linux API`
			`([GNU/kWindows][]). It could be using the [Hurd][] ([GNU/Hurd][]). The`
			`disambiguation is important, but the end result is pretty much the same.`

			`There are many systems that use Linux that are not GNU. Android is not GNU,`
			`for example. We shouldn't attempt to call those systems "GNU/Linux"`
			`blindly. (Also note how it's called "Android", not "Android/Linux", or just`
			`"Linux". Somehow GNU is controversial, though.)`

			`So if you see someone challenging GNU's relevance because GNU/Linux contains`
			`so much software that isn't part of a GNU package, then please provide the`
			`above link, and kindly explain to them that their observation is correct,`
			`because GNU is an operating system, not a collection of programs.`

			`[GNU/kFreeBSD]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD`
			`[GNU/kWindows]: https://mikegerwitz.com/2016/04/GNU-kWindows`
			`[Hurd]: https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/`
			`[GNU/Hurd]: https://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/`