@@gabrielmmgomide Excuse my ass, Stallman spent TWENTY FUCKING YEARS building an OS, and what does he get? SHIT ALL! No not after twenty years of work does he get any credit, he's just a philosopher.
"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.
Great explanation sir. If I remember correctly, the GNU Project wanted to make a whole OS, they just hadn't written the kernel and were using Linux as a stop-gap measure. I don't think they can get out of that now.
English is evolving, from my experience with learned students of English, I'm confident that your English professor will love to hear of your googling adventures. Linux is used often enough to have acquired several meanings other than just the kernel. I was happy enough using Red Hat Linux, Debian GNU/Linux, though I wonder whether Debian GNU/Apache/OpenSSH/OpenLDAP might not better reflect what's in a release.
Linux kernel (no disputes), Linux OS (may or may not contain GNU tools, and mostly for appliances), Linux distribution (user focussed, and probably contains GNU tools, but not necessarily). Of course, just using Linux as a catchall should be OK to most people outside of the zealots.
Apparently people with common logic about the difference between kernel space and user space are zealots? Shut the fuck up. If you're gonna run to Busybox like a sad fucking crybaby, keep in mind that it's desgisned for embedded systems, not your PC. GNU is the correct catchall, but no, you gits won't let it happen. It's sad how little education you got in kindergarten. You probably clamber your dirty self all the way to r/unixporn spamming that shitty copypasta all over anyone who doesn't use Alpine, while giggling to yourself how funny you think you are. ⚠️SPOILER INCOMING⚠️: you're not funny at all. You're the opposite of funny. You owe zero respect for someone who dedicated twenty entire years of their life to developing a completely free (as in beer AND freedom) operating system, with no restrictions or terms on anyone using it. In fact, you call everyone who has the human decency to owe the tiniest bit of respect a zealot. Your logic is just about as shit as flat earthers.
Thanks for the clarity, Mr. Sims. I am grateful for the GNU Foundations contributions to the Linux Community. But I agree, that they shouldn't obsess over nor claim ownership of Linux. Linus Torvalds wants to share this great creative space with everybody. And I am also grateful for that.
GNU never tried to claim ownership of Linux. Quite the contrary, they advocate the name "GNU/Linux", which gives proper credit to both sides. If anyone here is trying to claim credit for other people's work then that is Linus because he insists on naming the entire GNU system after himself just because he plugged his kernel into it. And the matter of name is extremely important. Being credited in the name constitutes marketing so great that corporations would pay millions for it. Being credited in the name means that your name will be mentioned maybe thousands of times each day worldwide for decades. Everyone knows Linus, but almost no one knows GNU, even though Linus is no more important than GNU when it comes to the creation of GNU/Linux. The whole reason that Linus receives all the attention is because the name credits him for both what his and GNU's work. And here is why that is important: GNU promotes free software. The more people know and respect GNU, the more people will listen to GNU's message, and thus the more people will understand why free software is worth fighting for. Marketing for GNU thus helps the free software movement. But now, GNU's work is adding to Linus' reputation thanks to miscrediting. And Linus Torvalds does not care about free software at all, his ideals are just about using open source as a tool for making "good software" ("good" being defined using his ethics, of course), and to use closed source when that is more convenient. So GNU's work being used to promote Torvalds through miss-crediting significantly hurts GNU's cause.
@@raisofahri5797 I agree. Nowadays it seems like Linus almost receives more credit for the GNU software than the GNU project does. Personally I think we would be better off just making up another name for the whole system, like how Google named their Linux distro "Android".
Alpine Linux _can_ use "uClibc" (so can BusyBox), _but_ it is built by default against "Musl" and so is BusyBox - It was the Alpine distribution that pushed "musl" development, in part because "uclibc" _only_ produces static binaries (all-in-one), as opposed to dynamically linked binaries (at run time)
Richard Stallman will Disagree with this video. I had an email conversation with him several years ago. I used "Linux" and he send me a bunch of articles and told me to use Gnu/Linux. But I never think like this. Yes Linux kernel can be called as an operating system. But I think they push GNU/Linux because 99.99 Percent NON Technical people don't know what is GNU and they don't know what is opensource and Various licence come along with software. So if we use GNU/Linux many people will understand more about software licensing and software Freedom. It is good for everyone. When We call it GNU/Linux were not loosing anything.
I think we should call the OS by its Distributions Name + Its Kernel. Like: Debian/Linux, Debian/Herd. If you describe the Kernel without a GNU userland, just call it Linux. Richard Stallman still has a good point, since at the point he wrote his opinion, GNU code made up the biggest part.
It takes a pretty good teacher to get stuff like this through my thick skull, but somehow you managed to get it done and it cleared up a lot of confusion I've had every time I mess with a Raspi. Thanks...
Always enjoying your videos ! I would really want to watch more videos like this one, which explain things that are common knowledge to the professionals but not well known to the normal, uninitiated folks ! Its enjoyable because your videos are easy to understand even to regular people. Don't mind being too much specifically being correct with the language or technicals with your explanations. People like me want to hear explanations that are easy to understand which is right in general. I think you're channel is great in a way similar to the 8-bit guy or the Techquikie channel but in a slightly different area. Keep up with the great videos !
Glad to hear you are enjoying the videos. Any specific topics you want to see covered? Thanks for comparing my channel to the 8-bit Guy and Techquickie, that is a real compliment, thanks. I hope I can duplicate their success!
Gary! I LOVE THIS VIDEO! What about the GNU tools now available in Windows 10? Why don't we see the FSF pushing an agenda to start calling it GNU/Windows?
Calling it GNU/Windows would be somewhat of an insult. As you probably know, there is virtually no "foss" {free and open-source} software available on Windows (with few exceptions). GNU is supposed to be about open-source. And Microsoft Windows is all about getting the green at any cost. [End of micro-rant/micro-conniption]
Great video! It would be great to dive a little bit deeper in this one. For example what elements of a Distro are part of kernel and what not. Also the different layers of a Linux distribution/flavor.
I use linux/GNU/arch/mozilla software/kde/libreoffice/jetbrains ides. All of these (aside from the kernel itself) contain tools that help me communicate with the kernel. It's just much easier to say "I use Linux" because the kernel is the main thing that will be in common among all linux distributions. The only other necessary clarification would be "I use Arch Linux", but "Arch" itself is an operating system built on top of the linux kernel, so I can just say "I use Arch". Then add "btw" because yes. Anyways, great video!
I am watching you from an elderly Lenovo Thinkpad running the Linux Mind distribution. The major point being that this system would not run MS Windows 10, never mind MS Windows 11. Yet the Linux kernel has this old beast humming along nicely, thus saving resources and me money. At 68 I really appreciate that, and you for a truly lucid explanation of a problem that I had not run into. Now I can act like I know something, rather than just a recent convert to the world of Linux.
Linux is only a kernel, so only that is not a OS. Chrome OS is not a GNU/Linux or a ( Wrong called) "Linux" distro. For example Android use the Linux Kernel but is not a distro of linux. so Chrome os is the same.
I totally with you on this one! There have too many people working on too many Linux based projects to simply blanket them as GNU. This is especially true when don't use any GNU tools at all.
The FSF has always said, that a system running Linux kernel with other userlands are ofcourse not GNU/Linux systems. Speaking of Android, Linus calls the Android kernel a fork of Linux. Because it's so heavily modified. The Clang compiler can and is often used, but not all software compiles with it though
I think it's appropriate to it call it GNU/Linux for most people that knowingly use one of the major Linux distros since those almost exclusively are indeed a Linux kernel with the GNU software suite. The GNU software can make a major difference when it comes to how the user interacts with the kernel so I think it makes sense to pair them as GNU/Linux. That being said, most people know what someone means when they say Linux so tacking it on as a technicality to one up somebody or prove some kind of implied superiority is just annoying. Moral of the story: call it whatever you want. Most people in the topic know what you mean and if someone else wants to nitpick over semantics that's a "them" problem.
There are several misunderstandings in this video. The GNU Project is not claiming that every system that uses Linux is the GNU system. Some systems that run Linux are fundamentally GNU, in that it uses GNU tools and other components of GNU that are not produced by the project, as the basis /for the operating system/ (regardless of whether it uses GNOME or KDE or anything else). So, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Debian, Fedora, etc. are distributions of GNU/Linux. Yet, the GNU Project recognizes that Android is /not/ a GNU system, hence, Android /cannot/ be called GNU/Linux. No operating system that does not use for its foundation the GNU tools are to be considered GNU/Linux. Also, another thing, the reason for the "slash" or the "plus" of the "GNU/Linux" name is to distinguish Linux from the GNU system. It is not an effort to appropriate Linux, the kernel. Stallman insists that Linux is a separate project, and has no problem with that fact.
There are several misunderstandings in your comment. The GNU project believes it has the right to hijack any Unix-like OS and call it GNU/Something. Today's Linux systems are complex and comprehensive and the contribution of GNU, while important, is not paramount. However the GNU project does say that anything that even includes a few basic tools from GNU be called GNU. I quote from the FAQ, "The principal developer is the GNU Project, and the system is basically GNU." Such a statement is hubris at best. Calling distros GNU/Linux is disingenuous and neglects the importance of other components and projects. I believe that the GNU project should be given its fair share of the credit, but so should Apache or Firefox, etc. Insisting on GNU in the name is misleading and inappropriate. Also, I never said anywhere that the GNU project is trying to appropriate the kernel.
My first EVER experience with a distro of GNU/Linux, was "SuSE Linux 8.1 Personal", the 3 CD set of which was given to me - and which I treasure - by my dear Uncle, back in 2002/3. I recall sitting looking at all this foreign geekese flying past on my GET, wondering what on EARTH it all meant, and extremely excited. I've just reinstalled it on my 18 year old Dell Latitude C600 Pentium III laptop, then installed VLC, and watched *"Revolution OS"* absolutely flawlessly on it.
This time Garry, I am going to completely agree with you. The GNUs have one point on their side. When Linus started to write a kernel, for a Unix-like OS, the GNUs and Mr Stallman had been working on this back-yard Unix which is free for about 5 years, and they didn't start with the kernel. They started with the compiler and the tool chain. They also started to write a kernel, but that didn't work out all that well, and they bogged down in details and being over-ambitious. Linus didn't start a project to take over their tools, and they didn't write tools to go with Linus's kernel, but hackers and builders and people who wanted a free OS, realised the two projects were conceptually the same, and fairly close to compatible anyway, so they started to port the GNU tools to Linus's kernel, and call the result LINUX. This wasn't a decision made or a strategy chosen by either Stallman or Torvolds... The case / argument to call it GNU Linux of course came from Stallman. He has a point, but it's clumsy and unnecessary. He is simply being political. If you really want to be correct, it probably should be called GNU Linux, but equally, if you really want to be correct, then you should always refer to Microsoft Windows, and perhaps add the version as well, because otherwise you're not telling the whole story. In some settings, that's possibly a completely correct statement, but in others you're simply being silly on principle. When you call it Windows or Win-10 then every reasonable person knows exactly what you're talking about, so why be a girl about it?
Interestingly or Otherwise GNU Linux is something that wold also earn the FSF's protest. (no guys we didn't create Linux. Put the slash (or plus or whatever) on:/)
Hey Gary, I enjoyed the video, but there are a couple mistakes here I think. First, there’s no GNU Foundation. There’s the Free Software Foundation. And the GPL is the General Public License not the GNU Public License. The name comes from an earlier era of GNU when projects each had their own licenses: the Emacs Public License, etc. A few of these are still around today, such as the Nethack Public License. I think something missed in the video is that GNU was working on an operating system for the best part of a decade before Linux was released under the GPL in 1992 and while most people using some flavor of GNU nowadays are using it with Linux that wasn’t always the case. Further to the notion of GNU versions of Linux, well there are a few. GNU and the FSF were fundamental in the creation of Debian and Debian to this day has versions of GNU with different kernels including the FreeBSD kernel which is rather popular amongst those who are using it. GNU also has a project that works on the kernel Linux called Linux-Libre which removes various nonfree pieces of code from Linux. Finally, it’s worth noting that the definition of Unix-like operating system is defined by POSIX. Best, matt
Well explained, Gary. Perhaps GNU foundation, and RS in particular, should concentrate on perpetually "around the corner" HURD kernel than screaming like petulant children throwing tantrums "it's GNU, it's GNU!". Some distributions do humor them and call themselves GNU/Linux, but, as you said, GNU tools are just one option among many, albeit an important and popular one.
Thanks, this was very enlightening. So far I belonged to the people who told others using GNU/Linux would be more appropriate. I didn't think of all the other components in a distro. Maybe it's best to not call the whole thing Linux at all. It's just Debian, Mint, Arch, etc. Only if you want to list what is used it might be worth thinking about the importance of different components. Hardly anyone is using just the kernel. Therefore, it might be an important component but far from being the whole thing ...
Good video. One can understand Stallman's frustration at not getting as much recognition as he deserves for establishing a framework for free software and laying the foundation on which Linux is built, but in the end language has to be effective and economical, and GNU and even Linux becomes assumed when referring to "running Ubuntu 18.04" for example. Because Linux is so universal, spanning everything from microcontrollers to the biggest supercomputers, it is inevitable that the many different associated user environment distributions will have many different names, and the common elements of GNU and Linux will be simply assumed.
Linguistic aspects aside: Linux for the entire OS/distro is a name we use only to not confusing people that doesn't know that much. I used to use GRUB2/systemd/Debian/su/XFCE/Gnu/Linux, but for technical reasons I now have to use GRUB2/systemd/Ubuntu/su-sudo/XFCE/Gnu/Linux.
after pondering this for a while it made me wonder if a "linux" operating system consists about 13% of the linux kernel and 15% of gnu tools and packages what is the other 72%?
www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html makes it sound like it's 90% GNU and 5% Linux, it says that the kernel is just a program inside the GNU OS and you shouldn't even call the kernel "Linux" but "the Linux kernel". (Which would imply that the Linux kernel is the kernel of the Linux OS.) It also says he calls GNU an OS because it is trying to replace Unix which was an OS but later he says that an OS has to include at least those hundreds of programs included in BSD but to my knowledge BSD is based on Unix so Unix is not an OS, so GNU is not an OS? I read that article half way through and at the beginning I was ready to be convinced but instead, I now am tempted to despise GNU because they sound like assholes. They say it's okay to call it GNU but it's not okay to call it Linux, it is acceptable to call it "GNU slash Linux" because Linus also did some work. Not the hard work, though.
@@leysont yes but that biased x is not gnu, mesa is not gnu, kde is not gnu, wayland is not gnu gnu and the linux kernel combined does not make up more than 30% of a typical linux distribution further more there are linux distributions that don't don't include gnu at all like the frankenstein of an android but also others like glendix and alphine linux and more but yes at this point they sound like jerks and indifferent to the work that was done by all the other organizations, tho i have no idea what their true intentions are with that post
So, you can install GNU\Hurd or you can de-GNU your Linux, hard part is compiling kernel with something else, there is not much of gnu in modern linux except gcc , and gcc can be replaced, and lots of gnu tools have compatible alternatives
My understanding is GNU/Linux falls under the philosophy that Richard Stallman promotes. For examply, Ubuntu is certainly not GNU/Linux, because Ubuntu collects data from the user that is using Ubuntu. GNU/Linux operating systems, are just a handful of GNU/Linux operating systems that don't collect private data on you and aheres to Richard Stallman's philosophy.
At about 7:00 You stat making the point that not all distro's come from GNU and your right but that dose not mean that thouse systems can righly be called Linux OS's. The right was of referance is distro Name = Linux kernel + other parts = the OS.
brave of you to talk about this topic. its almost asking for idiots to start furiously typing about why their opinion is the correct one. thanks for not being an ass, and posing a clear and well informed argument.
Nice informative video. But the thing is people will believe what they want to believe. It's really difficult to change someone's mind. But hats off for the effort. You explained quiet eloquently.
Excellent video Garry. Linux has come on leaps and bounds since the project was started many years ago. It might of just started out as a kernel but today it is much more than that. It's all over the world in thousands if not millions of device big or small in size IoT or just running on a 15 year laptop Linux and open source is the best thing to come out of computer science. Linux Torvalds is a genius.
I know people will hate on this but there is a perfect example of how a kernel is the OS and the UI is just a tool for interfacing with the OS: Windows! Windows as an OS is the kernel. The GUI people use in Windows is actually called Explorer, yep the Windows file manager also provides the desktop environment that we all think of as Windows. You can create a custom GUI for Windows, there have been a few I have tried in the past. Changing the GUI in Windows does not mean you are no longer using Windows, it just means you are no longer using Explorer as the GUI. This backs up the idea that a kernel is an OS as presented in the video :)
Totally agree with Gary's comments. Folks can get way too pedantic about the "proper" name of things, ignoring hundreds of years of English language conventions as Gary rightly points out is the first part of his essay. Also, as Gary points out, not all things Linux are GPL, thus applying the GNU label to everything Linux-related is a bit of an overreach.
At very least call it GNU/X.org/Linux. No, honestly some really good points in your video! I think GNU deserves (some or some more) credit for creating their very important license and for initially their C Compiler and Toolchain (of course it is userspace technically, but a VERY important essential(!) crutical part of userspace, -imho) ... both which Torvalds did use since his very first lines of Linux. But there should be no obligation to call it "GNU/Linux" and it wouldn't make sense to call every distro this way. I actually do like Torvalds and Stallman both very much alike. I respect both in their individual own form of autism. (meant positively!) One is more a programmer, one is more the philosopher type. Linux is the kernel and OS and GNU is its philosophy, like the air Linux breathes. (most often) Again, great video! thanks.
No one advocates for such an obligation. Even the GNU project merely request that people call it "GNU/Linux", but they fully respect people's freedom to call it however they want. I will keep referring to it as "GNU/Linux" or even "GNU system" (depending on how heavily it makes use of GNU) in order to promote GNU's ideologies and to distinguish it from other Linux systems such as Android and ChromeOS.
In an embedded system, the operating system can be only the kernel. But outside this area, most of the time we talk about the kernel + userland or user space software. Like with anything, saying GNU/Linux or simply Linux should be done correctly. When we're referring to a distro's name, it doesn't make any sense to add "GNU" or even "Linux" if the makers didn't put it in there. It's a name, respect it, so distro names such as "Solus", "IPFire" and "Ubuntu" are perfectly valid. However, if someone describes their operating system as "a GNU/Linux distro", they are correct as long as it has the Linux kernel and GNU software in it. This can easily create confusion if we look at the operating system's definition, because most people either didn't study computer science or they weren't good enough with it, so it's either no information at all, or insufficient information on the matter. When we're talking about an operating system outside the embedded area, it's common sense that we assume both the kernel and extra software. And the vast majority of Linux distros include the GNU tools, which qualifies them as GNU/Linux operating systems. Now the problem is with people who give their opinions like they're the absolute truth, while pretending the correct way is either referring to the operating system as Linux (or the distro's name), or call it Linux+GNU+systemd+Xorg+Cinnamon+blabla. That's rubbish. Linux itself "claims" to be a kernel, which is available at kernel.org, so if you're inclined into taking claims for granted, read their website. The GNU people, on the other hand, make things a bit difficult because instead of being gentle about the use of "GNU" when referring to the operating system, they also say "Most operating system distributions based on Linux as kernel are basically modified versions of the GNU operating system." That's also rubbish because by naming it "the GNU operating system" they're basically hijacking the OS name that they themselves promote in most places on their website: "GNU/Linux". The one thing people can agree with, is the fact that the desktop and server operating systems using the GNU tools along with the Linux kernel is the "lowest common denominator" that qualifies as an operating system, which is the kernel + some software that allows user interaction - be it a text-based or graphical-based user interface. And in hundreds of distributions, this "lowest common denominator" is the Linux kernel and the GNU tools. So calling these GNU/Linux distros is valid. And calling them Linux distros is also valid, because they still are software distributions of the Linux kernel with additional software along with it. So if you use Ubuntu and you say you're a Linux user, you're correct because your operating system contains Linux and you use it - although indirectly. But if you say your operating system is Linux, you're wrong because your operating system is *Ubuntu*. And if you want to mention Linux, you can either say it's a Linux-based operating system or a GNU/Linux operating system, but don't put an equal sign between Linux and operating system when you're not running the kernel exclusively, because that's a mistake. And it's also a mistake to name it "GNU/Linux" when you don't even have the GNU tools alongside the Linux kernel. As for English being flexible, so are other languages. But that doesn't change the fact that the technical language is in a world of its own. So use "GNU/Linux" if you want to be nice to the many people who worked on the GNU project that has become a vital part of hundreds of operating systems, but do so only if you're sure you don't make a technical mistake. Otherwise, stick to your distro's name and no one should complain about anything, and your technical skills won't be questioned.
Just like what happend with compiling, its steps are preprocessing, linking, etc, and the actual compiling. But the word compiling got extended to the whole process
@0:23 and GNU is just a license. You would not call a product that was licensed under MIT, MIT/"Productname." The name of the license is not part of the name of the product. @6:38 Just like Open BSD AFAIK.
I find it more convenient to talk about Linux when referring to any or specific distros of GNU/Linux, and even other non GNU systems. For the general public, «Linux» is just an umbrella term about something they don't know much about. Unless you are into compiling your own kernel; Talking about GNU/Linux is way more common than about the Linux Kernel. And that's probably why most people won't say GNU, even when it's written.
Sir ! From windows,Mac,linux,ubuntu Which will be better n efficient OS to for home use? Also for programing which one will be the pick? I want to install OS on my new laptop.
Great video. But Gary - you're sufficiently framed, and if you're not reading off a teleprompter .....you can just turn that camera monitor away from you :)
Where does that put things like e.g. GNU/kFreeBSD though, or GNU/Hurd (which is Debian (GNU/) Linux....minus Linux)?(I guess counting Hurd and kFreeBSD as OSes would totally make sense here. Doubt the developers of either would like that but I do realise that's not really a deciding factor) 9:49 :May well be just the way I see it, but I don't think RMS et al really puts it like that. Alpine for example I don't think they'd call GNU, and neither would they call Tiny Core Linux GNU (and I think DSL and Slitaz get away without any GNU as well). OTOH Surely Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, OpenSUSE (but NOT Android, Replicant(as the FSF themselves say), Sailfish, or Tizen) can _sort of_ be argued to be "GNU/Linux"? _though_ that's ignoring things like why not credit X, Poettering (no matter how much one hates him), APT/RPM/Zypper/Yum, etc and imho everyone should just call everything by distro name and agree on and manage to popularise a term to put Slackware, Debian/kFreeBSD, RHEL, Gentoo, mayeb OpenIndiana but probably somehow not Android under one umbrella.
Hi Gary, love your videos!! I have one more confusion and that's regarding the difference between a Linux distro vs packages vs repositories. I just don't get it. A video on that would be very helpful.
A distro is a distribution meaning an installer plus all the software. The software is released as packages (and there are different formats for those) and a repository is the online archive for those packages.
So how does the layers stack? VM Excluded….Bare metal, kernel, shell, distro, OS? I’m older & my 9 yr old is trying to get into computers. Seems very passionate about it & I know it could be a good future for her. I am trying to gain knowledge as well to help in any way I can but I’m a bit confused after switching from basically downloading a new Mac OS on my MacBook and just using the GUI. I never even looked at Linux or touched the terminal. It’s crazy how much cooler the computer is when you start to dig a little deeper.
In very rough terms it is the hardware then the kernel and then user space. The latter can be either a command line or a GUI or both. On top of those come the apps and tools like web browsers, compilers, games, whatever.
I liked the video, I agree on the language part. But just for the record: Richard Stallman wants people to call it GNU/Linux if they run an operating system that uses GNU software to interact with the Linux Kernel. He doesnt care about the names of products that dont use GNU, he wants people to acknowledge the work that was put into a system by the many many foss devs and is pissed that most credit goes to just Linus Torvalds, who did amazing work but not all or even most of the work necessary to arrive at a usable OS. He wants people to call it KDE/Linux as well if KDE is what makes the kernel accessible to users, because if nothing else, the dude is principled as hell, to the point where he makes more enemies than friends. But thats a whole different conversation and the dudes way of operating in daily life is worth a complete documentary in and of itself.
Richard Stallman does not want people to call it KDE/Linux, that is simply not true. What he wants is this, "Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it.... it is often called Linux... it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project." In other words he think that he created everything and that Linus is a pecky little programmer, but GNU should get all the credit because it wrote the compiler 🤷♂️
Oh hey thanks for the quick response! Thats how I understood the "GNU/Linux FAQ" on the gnu homepage and the philosophy section, but I will go and check if I misunderstood. It came across as more nuanced. Then again, writing a nice-sounding FAQ is easy and I wasnt around during his heyday of raising a stink about this naming issue, so thanks for the heads up. I do agree that Stallman makes GNU sound way more essential than it is and often dismisses the work of other, non-gnu affiliated devs have done, simply because they dont adhere to his very specific principles.
Thanks Gary, very informative. My Mother-in-Law is British, and she's always mentioning how she "Hoovers" her bedroom (even though she uses a Dyson Vacuum cleaner). I constantly want to correct her, but I'm scared of her, so I just let it go.
Information theory again, from my view. Human governments are operating systems. Polls, voting systems, insider factions are the user interface. Each nation is a brand name. "United Nations" is open source (GNU?) brand-named, copyright user interface, with open source GUI. Most other user interfaces are CLI (command line interface). The Linux model has yet to be created for the governance of these "human" (analog) computers, imho.
Both. Both Void Linux and Alpine Linux have non-GNU options. If anything, the FSF should take a page out of Debian's book and use GNU/kLinux or "GNU atop the Linux Kernel"
That was well said; very clear. No need to discuss the English language, imho. Just the logic described by Torvalds (and you). Maybe a Venn diagram to illustrate? Richard Stallman is probably the only one on the planet touting "GNU/Linux" . So just ignore Stallman and the controversy disappears. Stallman accomplished a lot in the past, but sadly today doesn't make sense on much of anything any more. So nothing will be lost by ignoring him.
Linux provides the more low level software (I word it this way because the firmware is on an even lower level), GNU provides some higher level software. In that sense I agree that Linux is the OS. But really for me mostly it is about not making it more difficult than it has to be. Using GNU/Linux is a bit clumsy while communicating.
Are you reading from a script and all the pauses/cuts are you turning the page? It really seems that something like that is happening. Whenever you finish a small topic you pause, there is a jump cut, and you start reading again. It's pretty distractions. There must be a teleprompter application you can get.
LOL, no I am not reading from a script. All the cuts are because the Internet is full of people who analyze everything to the 100th degree, like your analysis above and if I misspeak or misquote something then I 100 comments about how I got something wrong, so sometimes I need to re-do segments to get it just right... of course then people like you moan about that... I can't win!!!! 🤣
Wonderful stuff. Thank You. But you know G N U is NOT Unix. I don't think anyone is calling the kernel the full OS, and GNU the OS. As you explained, the ecosystem is a little more complicated than that.
At about 8:50 in your video you over simplyfiyed the GNU statment inorder to fit your slant on things. Yes many OS's don't relay on 100% GNU tools + Linux and some don't use any GNU tools + Linux but in ether sence it's still not right to say because it's using the Linux kernel it is Linux. It is Linux + tools (some or all of witch may be GNU and if it's the latter, then it is Linux + GNU) and in most cases it is a Unix like system. GNU never say that if a system is like Unix then it must be GNU but your making it sound as if they are.
Good video. Some thirty-one years after GNU Hurd development kicked off, there are Debian releases that do use the Hurd kernel, so there we do see a viable reason to use GNU/Hurd vs GNU/Linux. That said, I would actually be more inclined to call those Debian Linux and Debian Hurd respectively. I don't have any dogs in the race of which to speak, however, and I really don't get fussed beyond the occasional pedantic comment on a random tech video. 🤓
It's not just the English language. All languages have different degrees of fluidity. What people don't get is that language is a living organism because it is an abstraction that helps use express ideas and since ideas are themselves evolving abstractions, language itself evolves. As for technical definitions, I would say Linux (the kernel) is the operating system because it is the core that everything else runs on. The user interfaces is only how you as the user pass instructions to the kernel on what tasks you want to run and how. As long as the UI can speak to the kernel, you can put whatever UI (which is really just another application/service between the human and the kernel) you want on it and call that distribution whatever you want, but Linux itself is the system all the operations the UI application/service executes runs on. So in this sense, I actually don't believe the way the textbook definition is being interpreted is correct.
I was expecting someone explaining GNU/Linux is the only way to talk about Linux. But no, and that's great. As a system dev I've never understood people saying "GNU/Linux". I wrote a lot of systems, worked in embedded system, ... I work mainly with GNU tools gdb/gcc/libc based on glibc/... But I would never call any of my system GNU/something that would be absurd. I'm fully for open source, but in this case I don't agree at all with Stallman, and I find him a bit too extreme in his ideas of how development should work. I've worked on a project who was open source at first, we had to make it closed source because someone stole all our work and made money with it we were a small team and could not do anything legaly (especially due to the fact that they did not live in the same country). So we were screwed. And as you said, I can use Linux without any GNU tools, I can even compile it with clang or other compiler, debug with llvm etc etc etc. Also linux made so much improvement in system design, like their CFS... that scheduler is a work of art and GNU has nothing to do with it.
You can not say a webserver is an OS or part of an OS. A webserver is a program that runs in an OS and the same is true of all the services you started to list as an expantion to the OS. The line is drawen where if the program is needed to access any part of the computers hardware then it is part of the OS but if it is used to access/use/store data on the computer with the help of the OS then it's a program. Like the Apache webserver uses services to access files stored in the files system and send them over the nextwork using but not part of the OS
...the name ping pong was already in use by the time Ping-Pong was registered as a trademark. The earliest known published use of the word predates the trademark filing by a year, and it was probably in use for a long while before that. Also the Chinese name is pīngpāng qiú so maybe it didn’t originate as a trade name.
For some context, the OP originally wrote, "..Who told you ping-pong is a brand? Do you think to check these things before you publish?" And then they deleted that and added the reply above... photos.app.goo.gl/Zq8L3qyXSoZj14aSA
9:10 - Many pieces of the best, most popular open source software are released under far more free, permissive licenses, such as MIT, Apache, "artistic" (like Perl) etc.
Most popular open source software released under non-GPL licenses are created by big organizations. Most popular home brew software that requires high levels of community contributions are GPL.
Stallings book is not "THE book" of operating system design. Silberschatz and Tanenbaum's books are much more of a reference... Especially in classroom contexts! A more recent one which I reccomend is "Operating Systems: Principles and Practice" by Anderson and Dahlin.
Gary explains ... Linus Torvalds vs. Richard Stallman.
Linus Torvalds vs Steve Carell
Definitely Richard Stallman, GNU/Linux all the way!
Stallman is also more a philosopher while Linus is more of an engineer.
@@gabrielmmgomide RMS is the one who developed GCC compiler and Emacs text editors. So he is more of an engineer.
@@gabrielmmgomide Excuse my ass, Stallman spent TWENTY FUCKING YEARS building an OS, and what does he get? SHIT ALL! No not after twenty years of work does he get any credit, he's just a philosopher.
"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.
Nice story 😂
Hahaha. Great story. 😂👏
I really wonder where this copypasta originates from
@@Dark6997 Luke Smith.
@@user-he4ef9br7z I should've know it was him
You have the unique ability to explain complicated subjects in detail without becoming boring or mundane, a true gift. Thank you!
Great explanation sir.
If I remember correctly, the GNU Project wanted to make a whole OS, they just hadn't written the kernel and were using Linux as a stop-gap measure. I don't think they can get out of that now.
I don't think they bother trying. From their perspective, there's a free kernel already that's very good. Why waste resources on trying to better it?
GNU/Hurd - its used in high-reliability installations, especially in cluster environments, in places like CERN
@@paulwratt Citation?
@@paulwratt What's?? Citation please
I thought it was the other way around, where Linus used the GNU tools in Linux. BTW, I seem to recall there is also GNU/BSD.
English is evolving, from my experience with learned students of English, I'm confident that your English professor will love to hear of your googling adventures.
Linux is used often enough to have acquired several meanings other than just the kernel. I was happy enough using Red Hat Linux, Debian GNU/Linux, though I wonder whether Debian GNU/Apache/OpenSSH/OpenLDAP might not better reflect what's in a release.
Linux kernel (no disputes), Linux OS (may or may not contain GNU tools, and mostly for appliances), Linux distribution (user focussed, and probably contains GNU tools, but not necessarily). Of course, just using Linux as a catchall should be OK to most people outside of the zealots.
EG : Alpine Linux
All Linux distros out there contain GNU components like the C compiler and the shell therefore the OS should be called GNU/Linux.
@@ashjcoronado nah. GNU just a bunch of program sitting top on the linux.
@@ashjcoronado "All" Gentoo & Alpine out of the box do not have GNU Components.
Apparently people with common logic about the difference between kernel space and user space are zealots? Shut the fuck up. If you're gonna run to Busybox like a sad fucking crybaby, keep in mind that it's desgisned for embedded systems, not your PC. GNU is the correct catchall, but no, you gits won't let it happen. It's sad how little education you got in kindergarten. You probably clamber your dirty self all the way to r/unixporn spamming that shitty copypasta all over anyone who doesn't use Alpine, while giggling to yourself how funny you think you are. ⚠️SPOILER INCOMING⚠️: you're not funny at all. You're the opposite of funny. You owe zero respect for someone who dedicated twenty entire years of their life to developing a completely free (as in beer AND freedom) operating system, with no restrictions or terms on anyone using it. In fact, you call everyone who has the human decency to owe the tiniest bit of respect a zealot. Your logic is just about as shit as flat earthers.
Thanks for the clarity, Mr. Sims. I am grateful for the GNU Foundations contributions to the Linux Community. But I agree, that they shouldn't obsess over nor claim ownership of Linux. Linus Torvalds wants to share this great creative space with everybody. And I am also grateful for that.
GNU never tried to claim ownership of Linux. Quite the contrary, they advocate the name "GNU/Linux", which gives proper credit to both sides.
If anyone here is trying to claim credit for other people's work then that is Linus because he insists on naming the entire GNU system after himself just because he plugged his kernel into it.
And the matter of name is extremely important. Being credited in the name constitutes marketing so great that corporations would pay millions for it. Being credited in the name means that your name will be mentioned maybe thousands of times each day worldwide for decades.
Everyone knows Linus, but almost no one knows GNU, even though Linus is no more important than GNU when it comes to the creation of GNU/Linux. The whole reason that Linus receives all the attention is because the name credits him for both what his and GNU's work.
And here is why that is important: GNU promotes free software. The more people know and respect GNU, the more people will listen to GNU's message, and thus the more people will understand why free software is worth fighting for. Marketing for GNU thus helps the free software movement.
But now, GNU's work is adding to Linus' reputation thanks to miscrediting. And Linus Torvalds does not care about free software at all, his ideals are just about using open source as a tool for making "good software" ("good" being defined using his ethics, of course), and to use closed source when that is more convenient. So GNU's work being used to promote Torvalds through miss-crediting significantly hurts GNU's cause.
@@dr.c2195 the problems is already too late way too confusing for general public heck fedora also only calls their os linux not gnu/linux.
@@raisofahri5797 I agree. Nowadays it seems like Linus almost receives more credit for the GNU software than the GNU project does.
Personally I think we would be better off just making up another name for the whole system, like how Google named their Linux distro "Android".
@@dr.c2195 Another name. Like Unbuntu is just called Unbuntu? And Debian is often just called Debian. I could go on.
@@peircedan Indeed. Somehow I completely overlooked that.
I'm going to go Linux for a while, then I might Linux some more tomorrow
Are you still Linuxing?
@Tranime Girl how are you doing
@Example Example lol
I stoppped windowsing years ago.... I think I'll stay with Linuxing.
The operating system is GNU+Linux; Linux is the kernel.
I like how Gary made it clear and simple ! Great video 😉
Alpine Linux _can_ use "uClibc" (so can BusyBox), _but_ it is built by default against "Musl" and so is BusyBox - It was the Alpine distribution that pushed "musl" development, in part because "uclibc" _only_ produces static binaries (all-in-one), as opposed to dynamically linked binaries (at run time)
Thanks Gary .. i am tired of explaining it to the people... Now i can refer them to this video
Richard Stallman will Disagree with this video. I had an email conversation with him several years ago. I used "Linux" and he send me a bunch of articles and told me to use Gnu/Linux. But I never think like this. Yes Linux kernel can be called as an operating system. But I think they push GNU/Linux because 99.99 Percent NON Technical people don't know what is GNU and they don't know what is opensource and Various licence come along with software. So if we use GNU/Linux many people will understand more about software licensing and software Freedom. It is good for everyone. When We call it GNU/Linux were not loosing anything.
How 'bout Apple to Orange instead Apple to Apple!!
@@jpberes Because it's not about claiming authorship. It's about history. Without the GNU project and GPL there wouldn't be free software
@@citrone1474 screw off
@@jpberes
Will the c library is still gnu and the programs are gnu too
I think we should call the OS by its Distributions Name + Its Kernel. Like: Debian/Linux, Debian/Herd. If you describe the Kernel without a GNU userland, just call it Linux. Richard Stallman still has a good point, since at the point he wrote his opinion, GNU code made up the biggest part.
It takes a pretty good teacher to get stuff like this through my thick skull, but somehow you managed to get it done and it cleared up a lot of confusion I've had every time I mess with a Raspi. Thanks...
Always enjoying your videos ! I would really want to watch more videos like this one, which explain things that are common knowledge to the professionals but not well known to the normal, uninitiated folks ! Its enjoyable because your videos are easy to understand even to regular people. Don't mind being too much specifically being correct with the language or technicals with your explanations. People like me want to hear explanations that are easy to understand which is right in general. I think you're channel is great in a way similar to the 8-bit guy or the Techquikie channel but in a slightly different area. Keep up with the great videos !
Glad to hear you are enjoying the videos. Any specific topics you want to see covered? Thanks for comparing my channel to the 8-bit Guy and Techquickie, that is a real compliment, thanks. I hope I can duplicate their success!
I just download the Linux Kernel and talk to it. IT WISPERS BACK
Gary! I LOVE THIS VIDEO! What about the GNU tools now available in Windows 10? Why don't we see the FSF pushing an agenda to start calling it GNU/Windows?
LOL, exactly!
Calling it GNU/Windows would be somewhat of an insult. As you probably know, there is virtually no "foss" {free and open-source} software available on Windows (with few exceptions). GNU is supposed to be about open-source. And Microsoft Windows is all about getting the green at any cost. [End of micro-rant/micro-conniption]
they should call windows 10 as windows10/windowsNT
@@waynestewart1919 they also hate the term "open source"
@@mariolis Oh yeah. They prefer FOSS. Aye yah! lol
Most of the Linux community just wished RMS would shut the f*** up about GNU/Linux and stick to promoting the free(libre) software movement.
Linux users just don't want to say GNU/Linux.
Great video! It would be great to dive a little bit deeper in this one. For example what elements of a Distro are part of kernel and what not. Also the different layers of a Linux distribution/flavor.
I use linux/GNU/arch/mozilla software/kde/libreoffice/jetbrains ides. All of these (aside from the kernel itself) contain tools that help me communicate with the kernel. It's just much easier to say "I use Linux" because the kernel is the main thing that will be in common among all linux distributions. The only other necessary clarification would be "I use Arch Linux", but "Arch" itself is an operating system built on top of the linux kernel, so I can just say "I use Arch". Then add "btw" because yes. Anyways, great video!
I am watching you from an elderly Lenovo Thinkpad running the Linux Mind distribution. The major point being that this system would not run MS Windows 10, never mind MS Windows 11. Yet the Linux kernel has this old beast humming along nicely, thus saving resources and me money. At 68 I really appreciate that, and you for a truly lucid explanation of a problem that I had not run into. Now I can act like I know something, rather than just a recent convert to the world of Linux.
Is chrome Os considered Linux distribution or not?
Yes, but use only the kernel, is not GNU system
So Federico does that make Chrome OS a Linus system and not a GNU/Linux system?
It can be considered as a Linux distro , it is based on Gentoo.
Chrome OS is based on Gentoo, which is both, Linux and GNU.
Linux is only a kernel, so only that is not a OS. Chrome OS is not a GNU/Linux or a ( Wrong called) "Linux" distro. For example Android use the Linux Kernel but is not a distro of linux. so Chrome os is the same.
enjoying your series on linux Gary, nicely executed.
I totally with you on this one! There have too many people working on too many Linux based projects to simply blanket them as GNU. This is especially true when don't use any GNU tools at all.
The FSF has always said, that a system running Linux kernel with other userlands are ofcourse not GNU/Linux systems.
Speaking of Android, Linus calls the Android kernel a fork of Linux. Because it's so heavily modified.
The Clang compiler can and is often used, but not all software compiles with it though
Gary has an amazing way to explain things. I love his videos.
Thanks for clearing things out, grateful to you.
I think it's appropriate to it call it GNU/Linux for most people that knowingly use one of the major Linux distros since those almost exclusively are indeed a Linux kernel with the GNU software suite. The GNU software can make a major difference when it comes to how the user interacts with the kernel so I think it makes sense to pair them as GNU/Linux.
That being said, most people know what someone means when they say Linux so tacking it on as a technicality to one up somebody or prove some kind of implied superiority is just annoying.
Moral of the story: call it whatever you want. Most people in the topic know what you mean and if someone else wants to nitpick over semantics that's a "them" problem.
0:16
I using the GNU OS
Which exist in many distributions for many platforms , simple easy and understandable.
@TheBlackiwid GNU OS on pc
Debian distributions can be installed on mobile.
Android can be installed on pc.
So is GNU Hurd stable yet?
There are several misunderstandings in this video. The GNU Project is not claiming that every system that uses Linux is the GNU system. Some systems that run Linux are fundamentally GNU, in that it uses GNU tools and other components of GNU that are not produced by the project, as the basis /for the operating system/ (regardless of whether it uses GNOME or KDE or anything else). So, Ubuntu, Knoppix, Debian, Fedora, etc. are distributions of GNU/Linux. Yet, the GNU Project recognizes that Android is /not/ a GNU system, hence, Android /cannot/ be called GNU/Linux. No operating system that does not use for its foundation the GNU tools are to be considered GNU/Linux. Also, another thing, the reason for the "slash" or the "plus" of the "GNU/Linux" name is to distinguish Linux from the GNU system. It is not an effort to appropriate Linux, the kernel. Stallman insists that Linux is a separate project, and has no problem with that fact.
There are several misunderstandings in your comment. The GNU project believes it has the right to hijack any Unix-like OS and call it GNU/Something. Today's Linux systems are complex and comprehensive and the contribution of GNU, while important, is not paramount. However the GNU project does say that anything that even includes a few basic tools from GNU be called GNU. I quote from the FAQ, "The principal developer is the GNU Project, and the system is basically GNU." Such a statement is hubris at best. Calling distros GNU/Linux is disingenuous and neglects the importance of other components and projects. I believe that the GNU project should be given its fair share of the credit, but so should Apache or Firefox, etc. Insisting on GNU in the name is misleading and inappropriate. Also, I never said anywhere that the GNU project is trying to appropriate the kernel.
My first EVER experience with a distro of GNU/Linux, was "SuSE Linux 8.1 Personal", the 3 CD set of which was given to me - and which I treasure - by my dear Uncle, back in 2002/3. I recall sitting looking at all this foreign geekese flying past on my GET, wondering what on EARTH it all meant, and extremely excited.
I've just reinstalled it on my 18 year old Dell Latitude C600 Pentium III laptop, then installed VLC, and watched *"Revolution OS"* absolutely flawlessly on it.
This time Garry, I am going to completely agree with you.
The GNUs have one point on their side. When Linus started to write a kernel, for a Unix-like OS, the GNUs and Mr Stallman had been working on this back-yard Unix which is free for about 5 years, and they didn't start with the kernel. They started with the compiler and the tool chain. They also started to write a kernel, but that didn't work out all that well, and they bogged down in details and being over-ambitious. Linus didn't start a project to take over their tools, and they didn't write tools to go with Linus's kernel, but hackers and builders and people who wanted a free OS, realised the two projects were conceptually the same, and fairly close to compatible anyway, so they started to port the GNU tools to Linus's kernel, and call the result LINUX. This wasn't a decision made or a strategy chosen by either Stallman or Torvolds... The case / argument to call it GNU Linux of course came from Stallman. He has a point, but it's clumsy and unnecessary. He is simply being political.
If you really want to be correct, it probably should be called GNU Linux, but equally, if you really want to be correct, then you should always refer to Microsoft Windows, and perhaps add the version as well, because otherwise you're not telling the whole story. In some settings, that's possibly a completely correct statement, but in others you're simply being silly on principle. When you call it Windows or Win-10 then every reasonable person knows exactly what you're talking about, so why be a girl about it?
Interestingly or Otherwise GNU Linux is something that wold also earn the FSF's protest. (no guys we didn't create Linux. Put the slash (or plus or whatever) on:/)
Hey Gary,
I enjoyed the video, but there are a couple mistakes here I think.
First, there’s no GNU Foundation. There’s the Free Software Foundation. And the GPL is the General Public License not the GNU Public License. The name comes from an earlier era of GNU when projects each had their own licenses: the Emacs Public License, etc. A few of these are still around today, such as the Nethack Public License.
I think something missed in the video is that GNU was working on an operating system for the best part of a decade before Linux was released under the GPL in 1992 and while most people using some flavor of GNU nowadays are using it with Linux that wasn’t always the case.
Further to the notion of GNU versions of Linux, well there are a few. GNU and the FSF were fundamental in the creation of Debian and Debian to this day has versions of GNU with different kernels including the FreeBSD kernel which is rather popular amongst those who are using it. GNU also has a project that works on the kernel Linux called Linux-Libre which removes various nonfree pieces of code from Linux. Finally, it’s worth noting that the definition of Unix-like operating system is defined by POSIX.
Best,
matt
Well explained, Gary. Perhaps GNU foundation, and RS in particular, should concentrate on perpetually "around the corner" HURD kernel than screaming like petulant children throwing tantrums "it's GNU, it's GNU!".
Some distributions do humor them and call themselves GNU/Linux, but, as you said, GNU tools are just one option among many, albeit an important and popular one.
Thanks, this was very enlightening. So far I belonged to the people who told others using GNU/Linux would be more appropriate. I didn't think of all the other components in a distro.
Maybe it's best to not call the whole thing Linux at all. It's just Debian, Mint, Arch, etc. Only if you want to list what is used it might be worth thinking about the importance of different components. Hardly anyone is using just the kernel. Therefore, it might be an important component but far from being the whole thing ...
This is almost like comparing Wine to wine-gaming-nine and wine-staging-pba
What a satisfying video.. thanks for explaining it so beautifully . Cheers.
Great in-depth explanation. Loved it.
We used that book as part of our references in Operating Systems class back in college
Good video. One can understand Stallman's frustration at not getting as much recognition as he deserves for establishing a framework for free software and laying the foundation on which Linux is built, but in the end language has to be effective and economical, and GNU and even Linux becomes assumed when referring to "running Ubuntu 18.04" for example. Because Linux is so universal, spanning everything from microcontrollers to the biggest supercomputers, it is inevitable that the many different associated user environment distributions will have many different names, and the common elements of GNU and Linux will be simply assumed.
really good! great explanation Gary! Cheers!!
Glad you enjoyed it
Linguistic aspects aside: Linux for the entire OS/distro is a name we use only to not confusing people that doesn't know that much. I used to use GRUB2/systemd/Debian/su/XFCE/Gnu/Linux, but for technical reasons I now have to use GRUB2/systemd/Ubuntu/su-sudo/XFCE/Gnu/Linux.
Another great video Gary, Thanks. for the book recommendation as well thanks again.
after pondering this for a while it made me wonder if a "linux" operating system consists about 13% of the linux kernel and 15% of gnu tools and packages what is the other 72%?
www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html makes it sound like it's 90% GNU and 5% Linux, it says that the kernel is just a program inside the GNU OS and you shouldn't even call the kernel "Linux" but "the Linux kernel". (Which would imply that the Linux kernel is the kernel of the Linux OS.) It also says he calls GNU an OS because it is trying to replace Unix which was an OS but later he says that an OS has to include at least those hundreds of programs included in BSD but to my knowledge BSD is based on Unix so Unix is not an OS, so GNU is not an OS?
I read that article half way through and at the beginning I was ready to be convinced but instead, I now am tempted to despise GNU because they sound like assholes. They say it's okay to call it GNU but it's not okay to call it Linux, it is acceptable to call it "GNU slash Linux" because Linus also did some work. Not the hard work, though.
@@leysont yes but that biased x is not gnu, mesa is not gnu, kde is not gnu, wayland is not gnu
gnu and the linux kernel combined does not make up more than 30% of a typical linux distribution
further more there are linux distributions that don't don't include gnu at all like the frankenstein of an android but also others like glendix and alphine linux and more
but yes at this point they sound like jerks and indifferent to the work that was done by all the other organizations, tho i have no idea what their true intentions are with that post
Hey Gary what do you think about the MS Github aquisition? Is it a worthy topic of discussion?
git.siliconpin.com
That is definitely a worthy topic of discussion.
So, you can install GNU\Hurd or you can de-GNU your Linux, hard part is compiling kernel with something else, there is not much of gnu in modern linux except gcc , and gcc can be replaced, and lots of gnu tools have compatible alternatives
My understanding is GNU/Linux falls under the philosophy that Richard Stallman promotes. For examply, Ubuntu is certainly not GNU/Linux, because Ubuntu collects data from the user that is using Ubuntu. GNU/Linux operating systems, are just a handful of GNU/Linux operating systems that don't collect private data on you and aheres to Richard Stallman's philosophy.
Could you explain the difference amongst Interactive, Non-Interactive, Login and Non-Login Shells?
At about 7:00 You stat making the point that not all distro's come from GNU and your right but that dose not mean that thouse systems can righly be called Linux OS's. The right was of referance is distro Name = Linux kernel + other parts = the OS.
brave of you to talk about this topic. its almost asking for idiots to start furiously typing about why their opinion is the correct one. thanks for not being an ass, and posing a clear and well informed argument.
Nice informative video. But the thing is people will believe what they want to believe. It's really difficult to change someone's mind. But hats off for the effort. You explained quiet eloquently.
Excellent video Garry. Linux has come on leaps and bounds since the project was started many years ago. It might of just started out as a kernel but today it is much more than that. It's all over the world in thousands if not millions of device big or small in size IoT or just running on a 15 year laptop Linux and open source is the best thing to come out of computer science. Linux Torvalds is a genius.
I know people will hate on this but there is a perfect example of how a kernel is the OS and the UI is just a tool for interfacing with the OS: Windows! Windows as an OS is the kernel. The GUI people use in Windows is actually called Explorer, yep the Windows file manager also provides the desktop environment that we all think of as Windows. You can create a custom GUI for Windows, there have been a few I have tried in the past. Changing the GUI in Windows does not mean you are no longer using Windows, it just means you are no longer using Explorer as the GUI. This backs up the idea that a kernel is an OS as presented in the video :)
Well explained ..... And btw whats the band on ur hand sir?
It is a FitBit.
Gary Explains which model sir?
It is a Charge 2.
I loved the video. It is very informative and it explained many of the things I have wanted to know for a while. Thank you for making this video.
Totally agree with Gary's comments. Folks can get way too pedantic about the "proper" name of things, ignoring hundreds of years of English language conventions as Gary rightly points out is the first part of his essay. Also, as Gary points out, not all things Linux are GPL, thus applying the GNU label to everything Linux-related is a bit of an overreach.
Nice one Sir!
At very least call it GNU/X.org/Linux. No, honestly some really good points in your video! I think GNU deserves (some or some more) credit for creating their very important license and for initially their C Compiler and Toolchain (of course it is userspace technically, but a VERY important essential(!) crutical part of userspace, -imho) ... both which Torvalds did use since his very first lines of Linux. But there should be no obligation to call it "GNU/Linux" and it wouldn't make sense to call every distro this way. I actually do like Torvalds and Stallman both very much alike. I respect both in their individual own form of autism. (meant positively!) One is more a programmer, one is more the philosopher type. Linux is the kernel and OS and GNU is its philosophy, like the air Linux breathes. (most often) Again, great video! thanks.
No one advocates for such an obligation. Even the GNU project merely request that people call it "GNU/Linux", but they fully respect people's freedom to call it however they want. I will keep referring to it as "GNU/Linux" or even "GNU system" (depending on how heavily it makes use of GNU) in order to promote GNU's ideologies and to distinguish it from other Linux systems such as Android and ChromeOS.
In an embedded system, the operating system can be only the kernel. But outside this area, most of the time we talk about the kernel + userland or user space software.
Like with anything, saying GNU/Linux or simply Linux should be done correctly. When we're referring to a distro's name, it doesn't make any sense to add "GNU" or even "Linux" if the makers didn't put it in there. It's a name, respect it, so distro names such as "Solus", "IPFire" and "Ubuntu" are perfectly valid.
However, if someone describes their operating system as "a GNU/Linux distro", they are correct as long as it has the Linux kernel and GNU software in it. This can easily create confusion if we look at the operating system's definition, because most people either didn't study computer science or they weren't good enough with it, so it's either no information at all, or insufficient information on the matter. When we're talking about an operating system outside the embedded area, it's common sense that we assume both the kernel and extra software. And the vast majority of Linux distros include the GNU tools, which qualifies them as GNU/Linux operating systems.
Now the problem is with people who give their opinions like they're the absolute truth, while pretending the correct way is either referring to the operating system as Linux (or the distro's name), or call it Linux+GNU+systemd+Xorg+Cinnamon+blabla. That's rubbish. Linux itself "claims" to be a kernel, which is available at kernel.org, so if you're inclined into taking claims for granted, read their website.
The GNU people, on the other hand, make things a bit difficult because instead of being gentle about the use of "GNU" when referring to the operating system, they also say "Most operating system distributions based on Linux as kernel are basically modified versions of the GNU operating system." That's also rubbish because by naming it "the GNU operating system" they're basically hijacking the OS name that they themselves promote in most places on their website: "GNU/Linux".
The one thing people can agree with, is the fact that the desktop and server operating systems using the GNU tools along with the Linux kernel is the "lowest common denominator" that qualifies as an operating system, which is the kernel + some software that allows user interaction - be it a text-based or graphical-based user interface. And in hundreds of distributions, this "lowest common denominator" is the Linux kernel and the GNU tools. So calling these GNU/Linux distros is valid. And calling them Linux distros is also valid, because they still are software distributions of the Linux kernel with additional software along with it.
So if you use Ubuntu and you say you're a Linux user, you're correct because your operating system contains Linux and you use it - although indirectly. But if you say your operating system is Linux, you're wrong because your operating system is *Ubuntu*. And if you want to mention Linux, you can either say it's a Linux-based operating system or a GNU/Linux operating system, but don't put an equal sign between Linux and operating system when you're not running the kernel exclusively, because that's a mistake. And it's also a mistake to name it "GNU/Linux" when you don't even have the GNU tools alongside the Linux kernel.
As for English being flexible, so are other languages. But that doesn't change the fact that the technical language is in a world of its own. So use "GNU/Linux" if you want to be nice to the many people who worked on the GNU project that has become a vital part of hundreds of operating systems, but do so only if you're sure you don't make a technical mistake. Otherwise, stick to your distro's name and no one should complain about anything, and your technical skills won't be questioned.
Just like what happend with compiling, its steps are preprocessing, linking, etc, and the actual compiling. But the word compiling got extended to the whole process
1:59 I think metonymy is the right term for that concept?
@0:23 and GNU is just a license. You would not call a product that was licensed under MIT, MIT/"Productname." The name of the license is not part of the name of the product.
@6:38 Just like Open BSD AFAIK.
LOL, no GNU is the organization and the GPL is the license.
Okay, so a linux distro produced by GNU could legitimately be called GNU/Linux.
I find it more convenient to talk about Linux when referring to any or specific distros of GNU/Linux, and even other non GNU systems.
For the general public, «Linux» is just an umbrella term about something they don't know much about.
Unless you are into compiling your own kernel; Talking about GNU/Linux is way more common than about the Linux Kernel. And that's probably why most people won't say GNU, even when it's written.
Sir ! From windows,Mac,linux,ubuntu Which will be better n efficient OS to for home use? Also for programing which one will be the pick? I want to install OS on my new laptop.
Great video. But Gary - you're sufficiently framed, and if you're not reading off a teleprompter .....you can just turn that camera monitor away from you :)
Very good explanation. I think since most people are using GNU over other types command line software it's easier to just say Linux.
Where does that put things like e.g. GNU/kFreeBSD though, or GNU/Hurd (which is Debian (GNU/) Linux....minus Linux)?(I guess counting Hurd and kFreeBSD as OSes would totally make sense here. Doubt the developers of either would like that but I do realise that's not really a deciding factor)
9:49 :May well be just the way I see it, but I don't think RMS et al really puts it like that. Alpine for example I don't think they'd call GNU, and neither would they call Tiny Core Linux GNU (and I think DSL and Slitaz get away without any GNU as well). OTOH Surely Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, OpenSUSE (but NOT Android, Replicant(as the FSF themselves say), Sailfish, or Tizen) can _sort of_ be argued to be "GNU/Linux"?
_though_ that's ignoring things like why not credit X, Poettering (no matter how much one hates him), APT/RPM/Zypper/Yum, etc and imho everyone should just call everything by distro name and agree on and manage to popularise a term to put Slackware, Debian/kFreeBSD, RHEL, Gentoo, mayeb OpenIndiana but probably somehow not Android under one umbrella.
Hi Gary, love your videos!! I have one more confusion and that's regarding the difference between a Linux distro vs packages vs repositories. I just don't get it. A video on that would be very helpful.
A distro is a distribution meaning an installer plus all the software. The software is released as packages (and there are different formats for those) and a repository is the online archive for those packages.
@@GaryExplains That helps 😀, Thanks again ✨
So how does the layers stack? VM Excluded….Bare metal, kernel, shell, distro, OS? I’m older & my 9 yr old is trying to get into computers. Seems very passionate about it & I know it could be a good future for her. I am trying to gain knowledge as well to help in any way I can but I’m a bit confused after switching from basically downloading a new Mac OS on my MacBook and just using the GUI. I never even looked at Linux or touched the terminal. It’s crazy how much cooler the computer is when you start to dig a little deeper.
In very rough terms it is the hardware then the kernel and then user space. The latter can be either a command line or a GUI or both. On top of those come the apps and tools like web browsers, compilers, games, whatever.
@@GaryExplains oh nice! Thank you very much for the response! Great channel liked & subscribed!
I liked the video, I agree on the language part. But just for the record: Richard Stallman wants people to call it GNU/Linux if they run an operating system that uses GNU software to interact with the Linux Kernel. He doesnt care about the names of products that dont use GNU, he wants people to acknowledge the work that was put into a system by the many many foss devs and is pissed that most credit goes to just Linus Torvalds, who did amazing work but not all or even most of the work necessary to arrive at a usable OS. He wants people to call it KDE/Linux as well if KDE is what makes the kernel accessible to users, because if nothing else, the dude is principled as hell, to the point where he makes more enemies than friends. But thats a whole different conversation and the dudes way of operating in daily life is worth a complete documentary in and of itself.
Richard Stallman does not want people to call it KDE/Linux, that is simply not true. What he wants is this, "Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it.... it is often called Linux... it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project." In other words he think that he created everything and that Linus is a pecky little programmer, but GNU should get all the credit because it wrote the compiler 🤷♂️
Oh hey thanks for the quick response!
Thats how I understood the "GNU/Linux FAQ" on the gnu homepage and the philosophy section, but I will go and check if I misunderstood. It came across as more nuanced. Then again, writing a nice-sounding FAQ is easy and I wasnt around during his heyday of raising a stink about this naming issue, so thanks for the heads up.
I do agree that Stallman makes GNU sound way more essential than it is and often dismisses the work of other, non-gnu affiliated devs have done, simply because they dont adhere to his very specific principles.
Thanks Gary, very informative. My Mother-in-Law is British, and she's always mentioning how she "Hoovers" her bedroom (even though she uses a Dyson Vacuum cleaner). I constantly want to correct her, but I'm scared of her, so I just let it go.
Yep, we always "hoovered" in our house as well!
Information theory again, from my view. Human governments are operating systems. Polls, voting systems, insider factions are the user interface. Each nation is a brand name. "United Nations" is open source (GNU?) brand-named, copyright user interface, with open source GUI. Most other user interfaces are CLI (command line interface).
The Linux model has yet to be created for the governance of these "human" (analog) computers, imho.
Is possible to compare Linux kernel with windows and Apple also is it possible to bring the Features of windows or any other kernel to Linux?
Holy crap, how does this dude only have 30K?
Thanks all for sharing the information and being so fair
Both.
Both Void Linux and Alpine Linux have non-GNU options. If anything, the FSF should take a page out of Debian's book and use GNU/kLinux or "GNU atop the Linux Kernel"
What is the book you talked about in this video?
Did you altogether resolve the point about Bash - is this the sole command line tool?
What point about bash? Of course it isn't the only "shell".
@@GaryExplains 'of course' from your lofty heights - it wasn't clear to me, but thx 😊
Don't forget another interesting permutation which illustrates how much these components can be mixed and matched: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD
Thanks for the link :)
That was well said; very clear. No need to discuss the English language, imho. Just the logic described by Torvalds (and you). Maybe a Venn diagram to illustrate? Richard Stallman is probably the only one on the planet touting "GNU/Linux" . So just ignore Stallman and the controversy disappears. Stallman accomplished a lot in the past, but sadly today doesn't make sense on much of anything any more. So nothing will be lost by ignoring him.
I'm really liking your videos :)
Linux provides the more low level software (I word it this way because the firmware is on an even lower level), GNU provides some higher level software. In that sense I agree that Linux is the OS. But really for me mostly it is about not making it more difficult than it has to be. Using GNU/Linux is a bit clumsy while communicating.
2:34 GNUances, ha...
Are you reading from a script and all the pauses/cuts are you turning the page? It really seems that something like that is happening. Whenever you finish a small topic you pause, there is a jump cut, and you start reading again. It's pretty distractions. There must be a teleprompter application you can get.
LOL, no I am not reading from a script. All the cuts are because the Internet is full of people who analyze everything to the 100th degree, like your analysis above and if I misspeak or misquote something then I 100 comments about how I got something wrong, so sometimes I need to re-do segments to get it just right... of course then people like you moan about that... I can't win!!!! 🤣
Wonderful stuff. Thank You. But you know G N U is NOT Unix. I don't think anyone is calling the kernel the full OS, and GNU the OS. As you explained, the ecosystem is a little more complicated than that.
I usually just call it Linux, the technicalities mean nothing in casual conversation
At about 8:50 in your video you over simplyfiyed the GNU statment inorder to fit your slant on things. Yes many OS's don't relay on 100% GNU tools + Linux and some don't use any GNU tools + Linux but in ether sence it's still not right to say because it's using the Linux kernel it is Linux. It is Linux + tools (some or all of witch may be GNU and if it's the latter, then it is Linux + GNU) and in most cases it is a Unix like system. GNU never say that if a system is like Unix then it must be GNU but your making it sound as if they are.
"Is Linux a kernel or an OS?"
"Yes."
Thank you for making this video. It is sad watching RMS get all butthurt because people call linux distros what they are...linux.
Nailed it! I kinda understood this for the first time.😊
Good video. Some thirty-one years after GNU Hurd development kicked off, there are Debian releases that do use the Hurd kernel, so there we do see a viable reason to use GNU/Hurd vs GNU/Linux. That said, I would actually be more inclined to call those Debian Linux and Debian Hurd respectively. I don't have any dogs in the race of which to speak, however, and I really don't get fussed beyond the occasional pedantic comment on a random tech video. 🤓
It's not just the English language. All languages have different degrees of fluidity. What people don't get is that language is a living organism because it is an abstraction that helps use express ideas and since ideas are themselves evolving abstractions, language itself evolves.
As for technical definitions, I would say Linux (the kernel) is the operating system because it is the core that everything else runs on. The user interfaces is only how you as the user pass instructions to the kernel on what tasks you want to run and how. As long as the UI can speak to the kernel, you can put whatever UI (which is really just another application/service between the human and the kernel) you want on it and call that distribution whatever you want, but Linux itself is the system all the operations the UI application/service executes runs on. So in this sense, I actually don't believe the way the textbook definition is being interpreted is correct.
Ahah "Apache Web Server as a web server". This guys from Apache were pretty straight at naming their product.
I was expecting someone explaining GNU/Linux is the only way to talk about Linux. But no, and that's great. As a system dev I've never understood people saying "GNU/Linux". I wrote a lot of systems, worked in embedded system, ... I work mainly with GNU tools gdb/gcc/libc based on glibc/... But I would never call any of my system GNU/something that would be absurd. I'm fully for open source, but in this case I don't agree at all with Stallman, and I find him a bit too extreme in his ideas of how development should work. I've worked on a project who was open source at first, we had to make it closed source because someone stole all our work and made money with it we were a small team and could not do anything legaly (especially due to the fact that they did not live in the same country). So we were screwed. And as you said, I can use Linux without any GNU tools, I can even compile it with clang or other compiler, debug with llvm etc etc etc.
Also linux made so much improvement in system design, like their CFS... that scheduler is a work of art and GNU has nothing to do with it.
You can not say a webserver is an OS or part of an OS. A webserver is a program that runs in an OS and the same is true of all the services you started to list as an expantion to the OS. The line is drawen where if the program is needed to access any part of the computers hardware then it is part of the OS but if it is used to access/use/store data on the computer with the help of the OS then it's a program. Like the Apache webserver uses services to access files stored in the files system and send them over the nextwork using but not part of the OS
...the name ping pong was already in use by the time Ping-Pong was registered as a trademark. The earliest known published use of the word predates the trademark filing by a year, and it was probably in use for a long while before that.
Also the Chinese name is pīngpāng qiú so maybe it didn’t originate as a trade name.
For some context, the OP originally wrote, "..Who told you ping-pong is a brand? Do you think to check these things before you publish?" And then they deleted that and added the reply above... photos.app.goo.gl/Zq8L3qyXSoZj14aSA
9:10 - Many pieces of the best, most popular open source software are released under far more free, permissive licenses, such as MIT, Apache, "artistic" (like Perl) etc.
Most popular open source software released under non-GPL licenses are created by big organizations. Most popular home brew software that requires high levels of community contributions are GPL.
@@GaryExplains Hmm, I will have to look into it. and, of course, there is always LGPL for things like libraries. Thanks!
If I find a difference in definition for a word, I tend to wonder what has caused the difference.
Makes sense. Well explained.
Stallings book is not "THE book" of operating system design. Silberschatz and Tanenbaum's books are much more of a reference... Especially in classroom contexts! A more recent one which I reccomend is "Operating Systems: Principles and Practice" by Anderson and Dahlin.
Yeah, good point, you are probably right about that!