Hey, just, uh, wanted to clear the air a bit. You know when you’re saying “Linux,” what you’re probably referring to is what some folks call “GNU plus Linux,” if you really want to get into the weeds of it. But don’t sweat it, alright? I’m not here to be a buzzkill or anything.
See, what we call “Linux” is actually just a part of the whole thing, man. It’s the kernel, the core, the… engine, you could say, of the operating system. But the GNU stuff, that’s the body of the car, the seats, the steering wheel. You need both to take a drive, you know?
But look, it’s not a big deal. We’re all just trying to get from point A to point B, right? So, whether you’re saying “Linux” or “GNU plus Linux”, it doesn’t change the journey. It’s just semantics.
Sure, I get it. Richard Stallman and the gang over at the Free Software Foundation, they put in a lot of effort into the GNU software, and I respect that. But sometimes you gotta go with the flow, man. And right now, that flow is “Linux”. It’s simpler, it’s what people know, and frankly, it’s the Linux kernel that’s making the whole thing work in the first place.
So next time you want to get technical, feel free to drop a “GNU plus Linux”. Stallman would probably give you a nod of approval. But if you’re just chilling out, hanging back, and you say “Linux”… well, it’s all good, man. Linux is just Linux. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
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I use Android, or as I like to call it “Google Surveillance plus Linux”
I thought I was a filthy windows user lyrking in better lands. But I use GrapheneOS which is Android minus Google Surveillance, which is Linux plus Google Surveillance minus Google Surveillance. Isn’t that just Linux? Am I a proper member now?
I only use Linux command line. Does that count?
Babe, wake up, the new copy pasta just dropped.
Holy C!
Stallman only gives nods of approval to 15 year old girls or younger now. The less they wear the better.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it’s silly to name everything that comprises your OS. I’m on Garuda (Arch) and I use e.g. dracut, btrfs and systemd, yet I’m not saying I’m on “Garuda, it’s based on Arch, shout out to Red Hat, @ GNU/Linux”. I’m also on PipeWire, which is very awesome and I tell people how awesome it is, but I don’t have to do this 24/7.
If you’re talking distro naming, fine. Maybe it would be nice by the distributors to name the work they base theirs on. And I think they all do to some extend, just not in their name.
If Arch decides to call itself “Arch GNU/Linux”, I would totally support it. If Garuda wants to call itself “Garuda Arch”, fine by me. Just don’t expect me to say anything more than “Arch” or “Garuda” in a casual conversation. Because the people who know know, the people who care will ask, and the people who don’t care don’t care. Everyone in between is an insignificant edgecase
