RE: GNU-Linux vs Linux naming [was RE: LAM/MPI Parallel processing]

["Jonathan Shore" <jshore@example.com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen J. Turnbull [mailto:turnbull@example.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2000 1:29 PM
To: Jonathan Shore
Cc: tlug@example.com
Subject: GNU-Linux vs Linux naming [was RE: LAM/MPI Parallel processing]


>You don't get it, do you?  Nobody is denying that Linus did a great
>thing in creating the Linux kernel, not even rms.  Certainly not me:
>I suspect that besides getting the software product right,Linus is
>probably a management genius on the order of Bill Gates, as well.
>(The bazaar is not happenstance, although it "just happened.")


Linus doesn't deny that RMS did a great thing either - he's entitled to call
his software product anything he likes.

>What rms is pissed about is that 20 years of GNU service (formally,
>the GNU Project is only about 15 years old, but the core efforts go
>back earlier) to the community only gets mentioned by the majority of
>Linux users because rms has made himself a royal PITA about the whole
>thing.  The Linux kernel is _useless_[1] without the GNU tools, while
>the GNU tools now make it possible to turn Windows 95 into an
>approximation of a real OS, not to mention being a fairly complete
>substitute for the tool suites provided by many *nix vendors (and
>often an improvement).

RMS's whinning is just tiring - everyone knows what GNU has done and how GNU
continues to play a role in the open source arena.  GNU was not the first to
invent open source nor was it the sole enabler for linux.  Without minux I
dare say there would be no Linux.  The same could not be said if the GNU
tools did not exist  If the GNU tools had not been there Linus could have
used the minix bundled C compiler (though it sucked).  The C compiler was
the most important thing IMO.  The other tools were readily available from
BSD distributions and other sources and many of these are relatively trivial
to reimplement.

Again I state, if you insist on sticking GNU at the front of the name to
indicate it's heritage, then you damn well better put Minix there too.
Linus, in my opinion can name his software as he likes.  Putting GNU in the
front only makes sense if you are going to contribute it to the GNU effort
and use the GNU license.

And as for whether a distribution could survive without GNU - if we cared,
given a bit of time we could reasonably replace GNU software.  For the
compiler I would look for some third party one.  But since we don't have to
who cares.

So to RMS I would say, get a life.

JS

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