[Ilugc] why GNU should not be added to linux
- From: steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx (steve)
- Date: Sun Jun 6 04:00:12 2010
Hi,
Just a word in sideways ...
On 06/05/2010 09:38 AM, Kenneth Gonsalves wrote:
What I am fighting against is the idea that 'without GNU toolchain there would
have been no linux'. The people who developed the components of the toolchain
would still have developed them - they would have named it something else.
That is all.
Speculation is always limitless. I could argue that without the GPL, linux
would
not have grown while also remaining free (as in freedom define by the GPL) in
the manner it has (see:OSX, Windows network stack ...etc).
The point of the matter is although RMS _is_ quite annoying in his insistence
and almost fanatical in the naming aspect, it is credit to this very same
stubbornness, that Free Software as we know it actually survived and grew.
Again speculation of whether this statement is true can go any ways, I only
make
that statement based on the creation of GNU Project, GPL and FSF. I can't
imagine anyone but RMS being idealistic^Wstubborn enough to pull this off.
Whether in his absence someone else could have pulled it off is speculation.
This is somewhat like your statement about the creation of the kernel, the
person who created a free software license first(*) ought to get credit.
(*) just to ward off the pedants who are already frothing in the mouth, I am
aware that GPL isn't the first free software license, but it is the first 'free
software as defined by the 4 freedoms license' -- which ultimately *is* the
reason why linux as well as a lot of software is as free as it is now. It
probably is the only free software license that has been tested in court.
So, if on one hand it annoys you to call it GNU/Linux because it seems like
attention/credit seeking behavior, don't just jump off to the other extreme and
deny any credit whatsoever and dismiss the value of the contribution that has
come out of the GNU camp (and particularly out of RMS !).
RMS might not be the nice guy you might expect him to be but please don't
be-little his contributions. I'd say he has contributed to the FOSS cause in
non-tech matters more than linus has through linux.
Call it Linux all you want but remember it /does/ mean
GNU/[Apache|BSD|...]/Linux with GNU being the most (philosophically and
historically) important component.
cheers,
- steve
--
random spiel:
http://lonetwin.net/
what i'm stumbling into:
http://lonetwin.stumbleupon.com/
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