this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Taken from the CompTIA IT Fundamentals Exam Guide book (2nd edition, published 2021). I'm not sure if they fixed this in newer versions, if at all.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, that's a big confusion.

I hate the RMS rant about how you're supposed to say "GNU/Linux", but here we're talking about a GNU package that can be used without Linux. It's on FreeBSD and even macOS.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It just goes to show how important it is to come up with a good name. Recursive acronyms are clever and all, but if no one likes saying it they aren't going to. T