RMS, Free software and the Ubuntu CDs

[Daniel Carrera]

On Sun, 2006-02-07 at 07:57 +0800, Michael T. Richter wrote:
> (your average end-user not knowing nor caring what a "grep" or an
> "awk" is) -- should be "recognised" in the name.  So his whole
> rationalisation falls apart.


This is unfair. The command-line utilities are not what make GNU
crucial. GNU is an operating system without a kernel, not a bunch of
utilities. We're talking about the core libraries on which everything on
your system is based (including the Linux kernel). We're talking about
all the daemons that are needed for the init process. Without GNU your
system wouldn't even boot up. Compare this with X and Linux:

1) If your computer didn't have X, it would still boot up. It might not
do what you what, but then again, you could say the same about Firefox
and OpenOffice.org. But true enough, X is a crucial part for the
desktop.

2) Linux is actually the least critical part. There are other free
kernels that can be used instead and the average user wouldn't notice
the difference (e.g. BSD, Hurd).

So, between Linux, GNU and X11, the first is can be replaced, and the
last is not critical for the system to boot up (but admittedly not in a
useful way to a desktop user). For this reason, I would rank them in
this order:

1) GNU
2) X11
3) Linux.

I'm not saying that this justifies RMS asking people to call it
GNU/Linux. I'm just trying to be fair about GNU's role.


> > I write GNU/Linux but pronounce it "Linux" :)
> 
> That even makes sense.  :D
> 
> --
> Michael T. Richter
> Email: ttmrichter at gmail.com, mtr1966 at hotpop.com
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> 
> "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the
> institution of slavery in the States where it exists." --Abraham
> Lincoln
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