Jim Cooper wrote:
Actually, LINUX IS JUST A KERNEL, along with device drivers.
No it isn't. The kernel might be the most important part, but all OSes have kernels, and "operating system" <> "operating system kernel" in most people's lexicon.
The trouble here is that the term "Linux" is used for both. Linus Torvalds and friends developed a kernel. It's called Linux. Then lots of people have put together Linux distributions which include this kernel plus userland stuff, such as the GNU C library and GNU fileutils. Many of these people call these distributions "Linux" as well. There is no single operating system that can be called "*the* Linux operating system". There are several. It is best to describe things like Redhat's distribution as "a Linux operating system". In that phrase, the word "Linux" can be viewed as an adjective, just as if you had said "a Unix-like operating system" or even "a secure operating system". Anyway, when you look in /usr/src/linux on most Linux systems, you will find the source code for the kernel and nothing else, which is an indicator that someone, at least, believes the name "Linux" refers to the kernel only. Also, to make it perhaps a little clearer, it is quite possible to build something called "a Linux system" and vary all the components except the Linux kernel. The command-line utilities can be the GNU ones, or you can use, for example, BusyBox instead. You can use the GNU libc library, but you can also use uClibc libc instead if you prefer that. The only thing in common to all things that are rightly called "Linux systems" is the Linux kernel. The kernel is the one thing that distinguishes an operating system as "Linux". Speaking of which, and getting back on topic a little bit, I wonder if the Linux-based Palm OS will even have a libc. It's not absolutely necessary that it would. After all, Palm OS doesn't have one right now. (There is no malloc(), printf(), chmod(), fork(), etc.) In other words, I wonder if the PalmSource is porting Palm OS to run on top of the Linux system calls or on top of the libc library calls. It could be done either way. Anyway, the point is if they skip the libc and go straight down to the kernel, then from a programmer's and user's point of view, the device will not feel very much like Linux at all. - Logan -- For information on using the PalmSource Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/
