On Fri, Aug 10, 2001 at 10:51:46AM +0800, vince cagud wrote:
>
> Silberschatz emphasizes the difference.
> "It is useful to make the distinction between the Linux kernel and a
> Linux system: The Linux kernel is an entirely original piece of software
> developed from scratch by the Linux community; the Linux system, as we
> know today, includes a multitude of components, some written from
> scratch, others borrowed from other development projects or created in
> collaboration with other teams."
Which is why Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation
strongly insist that everyone refer to "Linux systems" as "GNU/Linux
Systems". It's proper to say the "Linux kernel". The "Linux
system" should properly be called the "GNU/Linux System" because
a significant part of the total source code of an average Linux distro,
including absolutely vital components like the C library, is GNU
software developed by the FSF. Have a look at
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html for an explanation of the
FSF's attitude on this issue, which just seems like a lot of fluff on
the surface until you think about it. Dave Wheeler's analysis of SLOC
statistics for Red Hat 7.1 is also pertinent to this question:
http://www.dwheeler.com/sloc/redhat71-v1/redhat71sloc.html.
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