From: Richard Stallman Subject: Re: Linux isn't an operating system Date: 1996/03/06 Message-ID: <199603070240.VAA16295@mole.gnu.ai.mit.edu>#1/1 sender: owner-linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu x-hdr-sender: rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu x-env-sender: owner-linux-kernel-outgoing@vger.rutgers.edu newsgroups: linux.dev.kernel I learned to distinguish between an operating system and its kernel while working at MIT, since before starting the GNU project. That is why the GNU system is not the same as the GNU Hurd plus Mach. I was surprised to learn that some people consider "operating system" to be synonymous with "kernel". But they have quoted textbooks, so this usage seems to be well established. The other usage, which distinguishes the two terms, is also well established. Here's what the Feb 1966 issue of Linux Journal says, on page 7, in answer to the question "What is Linux?" Linux itself is the kernel, the "core" of the operating system, Most people use "Linux" to mean all of the software that goes along with the kernel to make a usable operating system. Many of the users of Linux have got their idea of the meaning of "operating system" from there. That explanation distinguishes clearly between the kernel and the whole collection of software you need to do actual work, but it suggests calling them both "Linux". So it appears that "operating system" is ambiguous. It can mean the whole collection of system software, or it can mean just the kernel. This ambiguity probably tends to encourage confusion between those two different entities. Most users who use Linux install whole collections of software, which contain Linux. These collections include Slackware, Debian, Plug-and-Play, RedHat, and so on. They are analogous to non-Linux-based collections such as NetBSD, SunOS, HPUX, and Unix. We can call such collections operating systems, or ready-to-use self-sufficient software distributions, or some other term. Whatever name we use, the difference between these collections and the kernel is clear. I call these collections "Linux-based GNU systems" to help promote unity and cooperation in the whole community. I hope some of you will join me in doing this.