Re: it's not GNU/Linux; it's GNU

From:	 Steven Bosscher <s.bosscher@student.tudelft.nl>
To:	 Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
Subject: Subject: Re: it's not GNU/Linux; it's GNU
Date:	 23 May 2002 11:33:43 +0200
Cc:	 letters@lwn.net

GNU/Linux? *sigh* Here we go again...

You know what? How about using the acronym LINU-X from now on, to refer
to the system Linux^WGNU/Linux?

LINU-X: Linu Is Not Unix with X. A perfect mix of Linux/GNU, I would
say. Not a complete GNU system, not a complete Linux system, something
in between. And it also emphasizes another major compoment of the
system: the X window system, which is not part of GNU but should also
get its credits, at least if we apply your reasoning for GNU/Linux to X
as well.

But hey, what's a system without a decent desktop these days? Now this
is interesting, because what would happen if somebody uses KDE? KDE is
not linux, it's not X, and it most certainly is not GNU, either. So
should we call the system LINU-X/KDE? And if somebody want to use an
office suite with that, say OpenOffice? LINU-X/KDE/OpenOffice! And a
system without a browser isn't of much use these days, either. Now I
don't like Konq, so I use Mozilla. LINU-X/KDE/OpenOffice/Mozilla!!!

But then all of a sudden you don't agree!?
> Reductio ad absurdum says that it should be
> GNU/BSD/TrollTech/MySQL/etc/Linux which aside from being unreasonable
> would be bad because it also highlights non-Free and less Free
> licences.

OK I follow you when you say this would be unreadable. But
LINU-X/KDE/OpenOffice/Mozilla doesn't highlight any non-Free and/or less
Free licenses. The whole system would be GPL/LGPL/X, in fact... These
are all Free licenses.

So, what you're actually saying is:
1) Linux is not Linux, it's GNU/Linux because it's actually GNU
GNU deserves credits.

2a) Linux is not X, it's X on Linux, which is actually X on GNU/Linux,
but we should not call this system X/GNU/Linux.
2b) Linux is not KDE, it's KDE on GNU/Linux, etc.
2c) Linux is not {Open,K,GNOME-}office, its... etc.
They don't deserve credits.

You make no sense to me, you're arguments are at best inconsistent. If
you were consistent, your GNU (with hurd) system should be called
GNU/Mozilla/etc. Maybe you can explain once more: Why does GNU have
rights to credits for the Linux system, and why don't other major
contributors have those same rights?

Greetz
Steven