[Glastonbury] GNU/Linux; free or open?

[Martin WHEELER]

Just thought I'd add this to the list archives -- maybe the journalists
at the Gazette will be using them for research!


excerpted from the GNU/Linux FAQ  [ http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html ]
===============================================================================
(author: Richard M. Stallman)

Why do you call it GNU/Linux and not Linux?

    Most operating system distributions based on Linux as kernel are
basically modified versions of the GNU operating system. We began
developing GNU in 1984, years before Linus Torvalds started to write his
kernel, and we developed a larger part of the resulting system than any
other project. In fairness, we ought to get equal mention.

See "Linux and the GNU Project"
(http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html) for more explanation, and
"The GNU Project" (http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html) for the history.


Why is this issue important?

    Although the developers of Linux, the kernel, are contributing to
the free software community, many of them do not care about freedom.
People who think the whole system is Linux tend to get confused and
assign to those developers a role in the history of our community which
they did not actually play. Then they give inordinate weight to those
developers' views.

Calling the system GNU/Linux recognizes the role that our idealism
played in building our community, and helps the public recognize the
practical importance of these ideals.


How did it come about that most people call the system "Linux"?

    Calling the system "Linux" is a confusion that has spread faster
than the corrective information.

    The people who combined Linux with the GNU system were not aware
that that's what their activity amounted to. They started with Linux,
the kernel, and added GNU to it a piece at a time. After a while they
had something that was more GNU than Linux, but they didn't realize
that, and they called it "Linux" even though that name was no longer
appropriate for what they had. It took a few years for us to realize
what a problem this was and ask people to correct the practice. By that
time, the confusion had a big head start.

    Most of the people who call the system "Linux" have never heard why
that's not the right thing. They saw others using that name and assume
it must be right. The name "Linux" also spreads a false picture of the
system's origin, because people tend to suppose that the system's
history was such as to make that name right. For instance, they often
believe its development was started by Linus Torvalds in 1991. This
false picture tends to reinforce the idea that the system should be
called "Linux".

Many of the questions in this file represent people's attempts to find a
justification for the name they first learned to use.


Would Linux have achieved the same success if there had been no GNU?

    In that alternative world, there would be nothing today like the
GNU/Linux system, and probably no free operating system at all. No one
attempted to develop a free operating system in the 1980s except the GNU
Project and (later) Berkeley CSRG, which had been specifically asked by
the GNU Project to start freeing its code.

    Linus Torvalds was partly influenced by a speech about GNU in
Finland in 1990. It's possible that even without this influence he might
have written a Unix-like kernel, but it probably would not have been
free software. Linux became free in 1992 when Linus rereleased it under
the GNU GPL. (See the release notes for version 0.12.)

Even if Torvalds had released Linux under some other free software
license, a free kernel alone would not have made much difference to the
world. The significance of Linux came from fitting into a larger
framework, a complete free operating system: GNU/Linux.


Wouldn't it be better for the community if you did not divide people
with this request?

    When we ask people to say "GNU/Linux", we are not dividing people.
We are asking them to give the GNU Project credit for the GNU operating
system. This does not criticize anyone or push anyone away.

    However, there are people who do not like our saying this. Sometimes
those people push us away in response. On occasion they are so rude that
one wonders if they are intentionally trying to intimidate us into
silence. It doesn't silence us, but it does tend to divide the
community, so we hope you can convince them to stop.

    However, this is only a secondary cause of division in our
community. The largest division in the community is between people who
appreciate free software as a social and ethical issue and consider
proprietary software a social problem (supporters of the free software
movement), and those who cite only practical benefits and present free
software only as an efficient development model (the open source movement).

    This disagreement is not just a matter of names--it is a matter of
differing basic values. It is essential for the community to see and
think about this disagreement. The names "free software" and "open
source" are the banners of the two positions. See "Why Free Software Is
Better Than Open Source"
(http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html).

The disagreement over values partially aligns with the amount of
attention people pay to the GNU Project's role in our community. People
who value freedom are more likely to call the system "GNU/Linux", and
people who learn that the system is "GNU/Linux" are more likely to pay
attention to our philosophical arguments for freedom and community
(which is why the choice of name for the system makes a real difference
for society). However, the disagreement would probably exist even if
everyone knew the system's real origin and its proper name, because the
issue is a real one. It can only go away if we who value freedom either
persuade everyone (which won't be easy) or are defeated entirely (let's
hope not).
===============================================================================

Personally, I tend to agree with RMS's point of view.

I do hope this short extract stimulates everyone in the Glastonbury LUG
to read further from the www.gnu.org site -- I've always felt it's
vitally important to know where one's origins are really to be found.

Cheers, all.
-- 
Martin Wheeler   -   StarTEXT / AVALONIX - Glastonbury - BA6 9PH - England
mwheeler@startext.co.uk                http://www.startext.co.uk/mwheeler/
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