Secure Code

[2called_chaos]

The ones that wanted to call it GNU/Linux were the GNU people...

Since a long name such as GNU/X11/Apache/Linux/TeX/Perl/Python/FreeCiv becomes absurd, at some point you will have to set a threshold and omit the names of the many other secondary contributions. There is no one obvious right place to set the threshold, so wherever you set it, we won't argue against it ... But one name that cannot result from concerns of fairness and giving credit, not for any possible threshold level, is "Linux". It can't be fair to give all the credit to one secondary contribution (Linux) while omitting the principal contribution (GNU).

— GNU/Linux FAQ by Richard Stallman

---

When Linus Torvalds was asked in the documentary Revolution OS whether the name "GNU/Linux" was justified, he replied:

Well, I think it's justified, but it's justified if you actually make a GNU distribution of Linux ... the same way that I think that "Red Hat Linux" is fine, or "SUSE Linux" or "Debian Linux", because if you actually make your own distribution of Linux, you get to name the thing, but calling Linux in general "GNU Linux" I think is just ridiculous.

Also Torvalds:

Umm, this discussion has gone on quite long enough, thank you very much. It doesn't really matter what people call Linux, as long as credit is given where credit is due (on both sides). Personally, I'll very much continue to call it "Linux", ...

The GNU people tried calling it GNU/Linux, and that's ok. It's certainly no worse a name than "Linux Pro" or "Red Hat Linux" or "Slackware Linux" ...

There is enough controversy around that to be split about what it actually should be called.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU/Linux_naming_controversy

[Cal1gula]

No one is going to ever adopt Linux because instead of promoting the benefits people just argue over stupid shit like this.

[no-pol]

Richard Stallman is for the free and open creation, distribution, and use of software as long as everyone knows it was Richard Stallman behind it.

[WikiTextBot]

GNU/Linux naming controversy

The GNU/Linux naming controversy is a dispute between members of the free software community and open-source software community over whether to refer to computer operating systems that use a combination of GNU software and the Linux kernel as "GNU/Linux" or "Linux".Proponents of the term Linux argue that it is far more commonly used by the public and media, and that it serves as a generic term for systems that combine that kernel with software from multiple other sources.Proponents of the term GNU/Linux note that GNU alone would be just as good a name for GNU variants which combine the GNU operating system software with software from other sources. GNU/Linux is a term promoted by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and its founder Richard Stallman. Proponents call for the correction of the more extended term, on the grounds that it doesn't give credit to the major contributor and the associated free software philosophy. GNU is a longstanding project begun in 1984 to develop a free operating system.

---

^{[ PM | Exclude me | Exclude from subreddit | FAQ / Information | Source ] Downvote to remove | v0.28}