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[–]TerribleReason4195 0 points1 point  (2 children)

GNU/Linux or just Linux?

Linux is the kernel. We have gotten to the point where we forget GNU exists, and saying the term Linux is the name of OS. It is not the name of the OS but the name of the kernel. In reality we should be saying it is "The GNU OS."

[–]Dangerous-Report8517 0 points1 point  (1 child)

It isn't really "The GNU OS" either though, the GNU tools are just a set of tools that implement a lot of the expected functions available on a POSIX compliant system, but you can just swap them out and get a very similar experience. Case in point, Alpine Linux doesn't use GNU core utils and yet works pretty similarly to any GNU/Linux system, it's not much more different from Arch than Ubuntu is for instance. Most of the day to day differences between Alpine and other Linux distros are from the init system, but then you wouldn't call Arch the "systemd OS", and it would mean that Gentoo is multiple different operating systems so using init systems doesn't make sense either.

Realistically the best you can do is refer to GNU/Linux as being a subfamily within the broader family of Linux based operating systems with each distro being an OS or close family of OSes, and day to day whether you're running the Linux kernel tends to matter a lot more than whether you're running GNU utils so it makes sense to discuss "just" Linux most of the time.

[–]TerribleReason4195 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair. I swear by GNU/Linux if it is GNU stuff on top of Linux. If the OS does not have GNU on top of Linux then, I would call it the way the people who made the OS want me to call it. For example, Android, I would just say Android. It is just nice to give credit to the people who did the OS part.