Re: that old GNU/Linux argument

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



Alexandre Oliva wrote:
On Jul 20, 2008, "Mikkel L. Ellertson" <mikkel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

No - just that I think the argument is equivalent is like complaining
about someone calling a Mustang a car, instead of calling it a Ford
Mustang.

We're not talking of a "is-a" relationship, but rather of a "part-of"
relationship.

How about calling a Mustang a tire?  That would be the correct
parallel.  Because, you know, following the Linux-is-an-OS logic, the
tires are pretty important, and the car really wouldn't run without
them, and it's the last part you add to a car before it runs, so let's
call it tire, even though there are more important parts of the car
that took far more work to build, such as the motor.

I read it more as calling a Mustang a Goodyear/Mustang because it has Goodyear tires. But what I was commenting on was:

Fedora isn't Linux, it's a Linux distribution, but everyone calls all Linux distributions "Linux", so Fedora should be called "Linux" even though it isn't Linux?

When most people refer to Linux, they are talking about a Linux distribution. Yes, a Linux distribution is more then just the kernel, but it is the kernel that sets it apart from other system that may also use the same user-space programs. After all, the original GNU utility programs were not written for the Linux kernel. There were ported to it. As were programs like Sendmail and Bind. After all, its not like you couldn't build a Linux distribution without any GNU programs. (kcsh, busybox, etc.) But it is nice to have the GNU programs.

If I am understanding you correctly, you want people to only call the kernel Linux. But people are using Linux to describe the entire distribution that uses the Linux kernel. It would be interesting to compare how much of a typical Linux distribution is the Kernel, how much is the GNU package, and how much is from other sources. Just because something is released under the GPL license does not make it a GNU program. And not all the programs in a Linux distribution are released under the GPL...

Mikkel
--

  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature

-- 
fedora-list mailing list
fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
[Index of Archives]     [Older Fedora Users]     [Fedora Announce]     [Fedora Package Announce]     [EPEL Announce]     [Fedora Magazine]     [Fedora News]     [Fedora Summer Coding]     [Fedora Laptop]     [Fedora Cloud]     [Fedora Advisory Board]     [Fedora Education]     [Fedora Security]     [Fedora Scitech]     [Fedora Robotics]     [Fedora Maintainers]     [Fedora Infrastructure]     [Fedora Websites]     [Anaconda Devel]     [Fedora Devel Java]     [Fedora Legacy]     [Fedora Desktop]     [Fedora Fonts]     [ATA RAID]     [Fedora Marketing]     [Fedora Management Tools]     [Fedora Mentors]     [SSH]     [Fedora Package Review]     [Fedora R Devel]     [Fedora PHP Devel]     [Kickstart]     [Fedora Music]     [Fedora Packaging]     [Centos]     [Fedora SELinux]     [Fedora Legal]     [Fedora Kernel]     [Fedora OCaml]     [Coolkey]     [Virtualization Tools]     [ET Management Tools]     [Yum Users]     [Tux]     [Yosemite News]     [Gnome Users]     [KDE Users]     [Fedora Art]     [Fedora Docs]     [Asterisk PBX]     [Fedora Sparc]     [Fedora Universal Network Connector]     [Libvirt Users]     [Fedora ARM]

  Powered by Linux