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SubjectRe: GNU/Linux
On Sun, 28 Mar 1999, George Bonser wrote:

> On Sun, 28 Mar 1999, Richard Stallman wrote:
>
> > Calling the operating system just Linux confuses most users--anyone
> > who doesn't have a real firm understanding of the difference and
> > relationship between the whole system and the kernel. These people
> > see statements about "Linux", some of which refer to the kernel and
> > some of which refer to the whole system, and they don't realize that
> > not all the statements are talking about the same thing.
>
> Well, if you instist on making the additional requirement that anyone
> using GNU tools must add GNU/ to whatever they produce (I see that nowhere
> in the GPL, BTW, where did that requirement come from?) I think you may
> find that it is a temporary problem and people with either endevor to make
> other tools without such restrictions or port existing tools without such
> restrictions to their systems in order to be truely free.

That's not what he is saying. The name of the kernel is and has always
been Linux (except for in Linus's mind when he was toying with Freax or
something similar). That's the kernel. The complete operating system is
in fact generally a GNU operating system, but with a Linux kernel rather
than the GNU HURD. Nobody is saying that you should call your software
GNU/foo if you develop it with GNU tools. Nobody is saying that the Linux
kernel should be called GNU/Linux. The complete operating system, though,
is far more than just the kernel. The kernel is Linux. Most of the rest of
the operating system is GNU. It's GNU & Linux. It's a GNU/Linux operating
system. Personally I couldn't care less what you call your program,
developed with GNU tools or not, it is your right and your freedom to
choose a name for it as you see fit. But if you are ging to take a GNU
operating system and drop a Linux kernel, it should be called GNU/Linux.
If you were to replace the Linux kernel with your own called, say,
Georgix, and package it with the rest of the GNU operating system, you
should call that GNU/Georgix, but I would be more than happy to refer to
your kernel as Georgix. The main thing is to make the distinction between
one piece of software (in this case the kernel) and the entire operating
system. There is a big difference.

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