Linux or GNU/Linux?
- Thread starter pdffile
- Start date
A Cheese Danish
New Member
It's generally called Linux. But people also refer to their distros they use; ex; Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, Puppy, Suse, RedHat, etc...
GNU means GNU's Not Linux. Refer to it what you will, almost every way is right lol
GNU means GNU's Not Linux. Refer to it what you will, almost every way is right lol
tlarkin
VIP Member
GNU (pronounced gah-new) is a play on words which stands for GNU is Not Unix. Founded by this dude named Stallman which is system of licensing for publishing open source software. I am not a lawyer but, the idea is someone owns the rights to the open source code. There is actually an owner, who owns the IP (intellectual property) and under the GNU license you are allowed to copy source code and use it for your own purposes, you can even use it in packaged software and sell it. However, you are required to also share your source and modifications to the source to the GNU community.
Things published under the GNU GPL can I suppose be called GNU Linux, or GNU Unix, or GNU <application name>, like for example GNU has their own versions of command line tools like awk, sed, grep and so forth.
Other open source licensing that is not GNU is something like BSD (Berkley Software Distribution), Mozzila, Python and so forth. Some open source licenses are geared towards a project, like Mozilla does Firefox among other application projects, ie Thunderbird. They have their own license their software is published under.
Here is a comparison chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_licences
Now in some cases you end up with a product like Ice Weasel, which gets sort of silly. Firefox, published under the Mozilla open source license requires that if you want to redistribute Firefox, you must use their binaries. Since it is open source you can repackage it with your own, but you must remove all Firefox logos and copyrighted brand name icons. So, when some developers rebranded Firefox for Debian Linux, they did so under the GNU license but since they modified the supplied firefox binaries they were not allowed to use the Firefox brand name, thus they created Ice Weasel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Weasel
If you have Netflix there is a really cool documentary you can watch called Revolution OS. It will show you the faces and interview the people who started the open source movement. People like Stallman who founded GNU are in it.
http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Revolution_OS/60025132?trkid=2361637#height1640
Things published under the GNU GPL can I suppose be called GNU Linux, or GNU Unix, or GNU <application name>, like for example GNU has their own versions of command line tools like awk, sed, grep and so forth.
Other open source licensing that is not GNU is something like BSD (Berkley Software Distribution), Mozzila, Python and so forth. Some open source licenses are geared towards a project, like Mozilla does Firefox among other application projects, ie Thunderbird. They have their own license their software is published under.
Here is a comparison chart:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_free_software_licences
Now in some cases you end up with a product like Ice Weasel, which gets sort of silly. Firefox, published under the Mozilla open source license requires that if you want to redistribute Firefox, you must use their binaries. Since it is open source you can repackage it with your own, but you must remove all Firefox logos and copyrighted brand name icons. So, when some developers rebranded Firefox for Debian Linux, they did so under the GNU license but since they modified the supplied firefox binaries they were not allowed to use the Firefox brand name, thus they created Ice Weasel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Weasel
If you have Netflix there is a really cool documentary you can watch called Revolution OS. It will show you the faces and interview the people who started the open source movement. People like Stallman who founded GNU are in it.
http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Revolution_OS/60025132?trkid=2361637#height1640
lucasbytegenius
Well-Known Member
If you make a new thread instead of hijacking this one we will gladly answer your question
pane-free
Member
Whenever I have a discussion with my friend about Linux he always says GNU/Linux. Is that term the correct term to use?
thank you
Technically, "GNU/Linux" is the correct designation, especially for Mr Stallman and the FSF
(see here)
Most simply say "Linux," with the GNU being understood by we "Arrogant Linux Elitists"
