• @Zeon
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    -6110 hours ago

    Kernel. GNU is the operating system.

    • @BuckenBerry
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      236 minutes ago

      I’m sorry Richard, I’m not calling it GNU plus Linux no matter how accurate it is.

    • @CrazyLikeGollum
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      256 hours ago

      Yes, yes, and it’s NT/Windows or as I’ve taken to calling it NT+Windows…

      This point is pedantic and tired to the point that it has become an infamous copypasta.

      It’s also, at least as stated here, not even technically correct. A kernel is an operating system all on it’s own. It just can’t do much.

      GNU just provides the software that the user interacts with.

      Additionally, there are a number of Linux distros that are entirely free of GNU software.

      Just about everyone understands what you mean when you call Linux an OS. The pedantry is unneeded.

      • @[email protected]
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        53 hours ago

        GNU is not even a requirement.

        Look at Void Linux. Look at Alpine Linux. Look at Chimera Linux.

        MUSL instead of Glibc. Clang instead of GCC. Alternative userlands. More and more Linux distros arrive with these traits everyday (many more than I listed).

    • @Hobo
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      359 hours ago

      I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

      Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called Linux, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project.

      There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called Linux distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux!

    • @Googlyman64
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      118 hours ago

      i cant believe this guy invented popcorn :o