Re: [Hampshire] Linux and GNU

> I'm not the only one. Unix and Linux Sys admin book (fourth edition) p8,
> saying that using the term GNU/Linux has its own political baggage

It certainly has some political baggage. Most of us just ignore politics,
as they rarely get code out the door.

> only officially endorsed by the Debian distro.

If the book says that, then the book is wrong. I've seen many people
outside of the Debian distro who understand the G/L term to be correct.
You just don't usually see many people outside GNU getting worked up about
it.

> Linux is the kernel, OS and distro to most people.

...To most people who do not understand where all these things come from.

Linux is the kernel. It is not the whole of the OS. It is most certainly
not the apps. To claim anything is else is simply factually incorrect.

That many people - including me - misuse the term "Linux" to encompass the
entire environment does not make that usage any less wrong.

> It correctly identifies the core which makes it different to others.

Irrelevant. If I write a trivial kernel and wrap every FOSS project in the
multiverse around it, it is my kernel that makes the whole "different to
others". That does *not* make OpenOffice part of Vicix.

> Linux also describes the movement which embraces free, open source
> software like GNU.

No it does not!

The Free Software movement is generally known by names such as "the Free
Software movement". Linux is one part of that; it is not even close to
being the whole.

> I don't use the term GNU/Linux

You should, since it is the correct term. But few will worry if you don't.

> and I certainly don't want to see
> others thinking that is the correct term, as the majority don't use it.

It *is* the correct term. Your repeated assertions that you think Linux is
more important than GNU are pointless; the software we both espouse
comprises both Linux portions and GNU portions. Trying to redefine Linux
to be more than it is is simply an exercise in obfuscation; Linux is the
kernel, and a kernel is not sufficient to form an OS, necessary though it
be.

Vic.