How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux? [LWN.net]

How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux?

Posted Jun 1, 2011 7:06 UTC (Wed) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux? by tetromino
Parent article: How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux?

FreeBSD seems to be doing an OK job running all of that software - well, other than systemd, of course - without glibc.

Sorry, but this not really true. Most real FreeBSD systems include Linuxulator and glibc to run things like Acrobat Reader or Opera. And they use GLibC to do that.

This succulently shows that right now, today, GLibC is more important then kernel. Recent developments make it less relevant, though: Android does not use GLibC and supports more interesting applications, then GNU/Linux, for example. If/when tablets and desktop converge it'll be interesting to see what happens.

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How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux?

Posted Jun 1, 2011 9:06 UTC (Wed) by danieldk (guest, #27876) [Link]

But then Acrobat Reader is not part of Debian either, and probably a lot of Debian users will never install it. The point is that you can provide much of the functionality of a standard open source desktop or server system without glibc or even gcc.

(By the way, Opera offers a native FreeBSD version.)

How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux?

Posted Jun 1, 2011 9:08 UTC (Wed) by trasz (guest, #45786) [Link]

There is a native Opera for FreeBSD. I have no idea why someone would want to use Acrobat. Linuxulator is used mostly for Flash.

How much GNU is there in GNU/Linux?

Posted Jun 3, 2011 14:56 UTC (Fri) by qubit (guest, #57802) [Link]

This succulently shows that right now, today, GLibC is more important then kernel.

This must be what they mean when they talk about the juicy details...