I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!
“I use Linux as my operating system,” I state proudly to the unkempt, bearded man. He swivels around in his desk chair with a devilish gleam in his eyes, ready to mansplain with extreme precision. “Actually”, he says with a grin, "Linux is just the kernel. You use GNU+Linux!’ I don’t miss a beat and reply with a smirk, “I use Alpine, a distro that doesn’t include the GNU coreutils, or any other GNU code. It’s Linux, but it’s not GNU+Linux.”
The smile quickly drops from the man’s face. His body begins convulsing and he foams at the mouth and drops to the floor with a sickly thud. As he writhes around he screams “I-IT WAS COMPILED WITH GCC! THAT MEANS IT’S STILL GNU!” Coolly, I reply “If windows was compiled with gcc, would that make it GNU?” I interrupt his response with “-and work is being made on the kernel to make it more compiler-agnostic. Even you were correct, you wont be for long.”
With a sickly wheeze, the last of the man’s life is ejected from his body. He lies on the floor, cold and limp. I’ve womansplained him to death.
But even when/if Alpine (or anyone else) creates a distro entirely free of GNU software, the vast majority of mainstream distributions would still fall under the “GNU/Linux” umbrella when the typical user is discussing Linux.
Apline is Linux/Busyibox or smth like that. However, that does not make 99% of distros not GNU/Linux.
Saying that the whole Debian, RHEL, SUSE and Arch realm (ie. stuff like Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, Opensuse, EndeavourOS, Manjaro etc) and countless other distros are not GNU/Linux would be as, if not more, disingenuous as calling Alpine “GNU/Linux”
Also Alpine is not only dwarfed in terms of quantity of GNU/Linux distros, but also in amount of users/instances; both desktop- and server-side
And Chimera Linux (not to be confused with ChimeraOS, the GNUish gaming distro).
Ironically, Stallman himself is probably a prime motivation for Alpine and Chimera Linux, in a sort of “I’m sick of hearing this crap” way. Although it does say something about GNU that Alpine was also shooting for a distribution with as little bloat as possible, and it largely succeeded. For a long time, it was one of the most lightweight distributions around, leading to its popularity as a container base.
Sure, the joke is clever, a recursive acronym “GNU is Not Unix”, cute. But they could have used absolutely any letter as the first letter and that joke would still work. So why didn’t they choose something pronounceable? I mean, the option was right there. ENU, ANU, INU, ONU, SNU, those would all work. Hell, even NNU would work, you could pronounce it “the new project”.
Not sure if that’s the reason but I heard that gnu was chosen because gnus, the animal, are essentially one herd spread across Africa. A gnu that loses its particular herd, e.g. while crossing a river, can join any other. Supposedly that’s not the same for other herd animals.
I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.
There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!
That’s not true anymore, there’s distros like Alpine which are not built using gnu tools.
“I use Linux as my operating system,” I state proudly to the unkempt, bearded man. He swivels around in his desk chair with a devilish gleam in his eyes, ready to mansplain with extreme precision. “Actually”, he says with a grin, "Linux is just the kernel. You use GNU+Linux!’ I don’t miss a beat and reply with a smirk, “I use Alpine, a distro that doesn’t include the GNU coreutils, or any other GNU code. It’s Linux, but it’s not GNU+Linux.” The smile quickly drops from the man’s face. His body begins convulsing and he foams at the mouth and drops to the floor with a sickly thud. As he writhes around he screams “I-IT WAS COMPILED WITH GCC! THAT MEANS IT’S STILL GNU!” Coolly, I reply “If windows was compiled with gcc, would that make it GNU?” I interrupt his response with “-and work is being made on the kernel to make it more compiler-agnostic. Even you were correct, you wont be for long.” With a sickly wheeze, the last of the man’s life is ejected from his body. He lies on the floor, cold and limp. I’ve womansplained him to death.
Was Alpine built specifically to be able to tune out Richard Stallman?
If memory serves, Alpine is not entirely free of GNU software. Checking their own website, they use GCC and GNU Make:
https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/packages
But even when/if Alpine (or anyone else) creates a distro entirely free of GNU software, the vast majority of mainstream distributions would still fall under the “GNU/Linux” umbrella when the typical user is discussing Linux.
Apline is Linux/Busyibox or smth like that. However, that does not make 99% of distros not GNU/Linux.
Saying that the whole Debian, RHEL, SUSE and Arch realm (ie. stuff like Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, Opensuse, EndeavourOS, Manjaro etc) and countless other distros are not GNU/Linux would be as, if not more, disingenuous as calling Alpine “GNU/Linux”
Also Alpine is not only dwarfed in terms of quantity of GNU/Linux distros, but also in amount of users/instances; both desktop- and server-side
Instance checks out.
dot world users don’t get to talk about instances lol
lol. lmao, even
deleted by creator
wow, the KDE Advanced Text Editor in person!
i use vscode sry
And Chimera Linux (not to be confused with ChimeraOS, the GNUish gaming distro).
Ironically, Stallman himself is probably a prime motivation for Alpine and Chimera Linux, in a sort of “I’m sick of hearing this crap” way. Although it does say something about GNU that Alpine was also shooting for a distribution with as little bloat as possible, and it largely succeeded. For a long time, it was one of the most lightweight distributions around, leading to its popularity as a container base.
My only gripe with GNU is the acronym itself.
Sure, the joke is clever, a recursive acronym “GNU is Not Unix”, cute. But they could have used absolutely any letter as the first letter and that joke would still work. So why didn’t they choose something pronounceable? I mean, the option was right there. ENU, ANU, INU, ONU, SNU, those would all work. Hell, even NNU would work, you could pronounce it “the new project”.
Not sure if that’s the reason but I heard that gnu was chosen because gnus, the animal, are essentially one herd spread across Africa. A gnu that loses its particular herd, e.g. while crossing a river, can join any other. Supposedly that’s not the same for other herd animals.
I thought gnu was another name for a wildebeest. How do you even put a wildebeest on your computer?