[ale] Absolutely deplorable Linux quiz

[Michael B. Trausch]

On Mon, 2011-02-28 at 07:45 -0500, Jim Kinney wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 12:16 AM, Michael B. Trausch <mike at trausch.us>
> wrote:
> <snip>t---is that Linux is just the
> > kernel, which is only half of an operating system. <snip>
> 
> which underscores Stallman's loud insistence on calling it GNU/Linux
> as only the kernel is Linux and the rest is GNU.  :-) 

I honestly don't think it's worth making as big a stink about it as he
does---for crying out loud, the man won't talk at a LUG without it being
called a G/LUG!  He seems to ignore the fact that GNU is not the only
thing that is used on Linux systems, and when people have pointed out
that fact to him he seems to have the tendency to reply with something
along the lines of "but MOST systems are!" and feels that this is
somehow justification for making damn sure that Linux groups are named
to be narrower in scope than they need to be.  I, of course, disagree
with such a narrow-minded view of things.

It would seem to me that any sort of discussion on any sort of
Linux-based system---whether built around the GNU userland or not---is
relevant and on-topic in groups such as ours.  While Android is the
first largely popular Linux system that does not use GNU (by default),
there have been other systems in the past, such as very small root/boot
rescue system type stuff, which did not use GNU either.  To say that a
group should only discuss GNU systems that use the Linux kernel would be
to exclude a significant chunk of very useful (to some) systems.

Now that GNU runs on FreeBSD's kernel (e.g., GNU/kFreeBSD), there is
another point against referring to everything Linux as GNU/Linux.  After
all, we now have *two* major systems (Linux and FreeBSD) which can (but
do not necessarily have to) run GNU for the userland component.

The reason that I say that the kernel is only half of the operating
system is (hopefully) plainly clear: A kernel by itself is utterly
useless.  Even DOS systems have components outside the kernel that are
required for the system to be useful.  For example, command.com (or
something else to take its place, like something that would operate
along the lines of a UNIX init system) and many of the utilities that
are there for maintaining a DOS system and that ship with most (if not
all) variants of DOS.  Not everything that ships with an implementation
of DOS can be considered to be part of the operating system, just as not
everything that is shipped in Ubuntu or Fedora can be considered to be
part of the operating system.  Still, a significant part of the userland
must exist, or the kernel itself is just going to sit there with its
thumbs up its rear...

	--- Mike