Tom Marchant wrote:
"Supposed altruism?" I don't know that he is altruistic. He has worked hard in
support of software freedom. Indeed, that was the reason he started the GNU
project. It is also the reason he wrote the GNU General Public License (GPL).
...
[selective reply for brevity]
I may have lost you, Tom, due to my abrasiveness, and _for that I am
sorry_. Really. I mean it.
My intended points were #1 there are other contributions to "Linux"
besides the (huge) portion from GNU/FSF and /drawing the line becomes a
challenge/, and #2 people tire of the GNU reminder in Linux context and
communities like IBM-MAIN don't get much out of it.
You want me to stop telling people that the GNU operating system is an important
part of what they call "Linux". I will not stop. ...
Upon re-reading, yes, that is what I asked.
You did say "a distinction many ignore", and I completely agree, they
should not. The history and the full story is important. But you also
said "many others are tired of hearing", so I guess I just want you to
tread lightly. (Avoid losing your audience as I seem to have done.)
Also see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WipM3SAYqK4 about 10 minutes in.
David Craig makes a good point about the compiler:
I agree with Tom on this, Rick. Long ago I observed that Linux';
i.e., the kernel's portability is in fact gcc's portability,
and in these days of llvm it's still very true. ...
Following that, the kernel itself could be called "GNU/Linux".
It would be interesting to see how well the kernel builds with
LLVM/clang. (Not for the sake of getting rid of the GNU designation per
se.) I know others have done it. So many projects; so little time.
-- R; <><
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