Principal contributor? [LWN.net]

Principal contributor?

Posted Jun 8, 2002 23:38 UTC (Sat) by DeletedUser846 ((unknown), #846)
In reply to: Principal contributor? by morhippo
Parent article: Re: it's not GNU/Linux; it's GNU

Any GNU/Linux distributions, be they a single floppy disk distribution or one that comes on a DVD has to have major GNU components distributed with it, otherwise, as you have rightly pointed out, they will not work. The fact of the matter is that if you were to download a Linux kernel from source you will need GNU components to compile and make it work. The point that you are arguing is more to do with what constitutes a minimal system, and that is where RMS's charitable (GNU/OpenOffice/Linux) response comes in.

More than often I ask people to use the term GNU/Linux to promote the licensing agenda of the GNU project. Without it GNU/Linux and the very active (and vocal!) community that have grown around it, and which you are part of, wouldn't be. More than often the community has taken on issues that have little to do with software but have promoted the goodwill exalted by the GNU founders.

I will admit having truncate off the GNU part of the name when speaking to people who have accepted the role of GNU (go on then, I've got my asbestos pants on!) but I've always made it a point to prepend GNU when speaking to newbies or non-GNU software users. (I'm trying to right this wrong by the way!)

So to all those arguing against, all I can say is look back at what the 3 letters have done for you and then you decide if it's worth its place at the high altar.

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