On Thu, Jan 17, 2002 at 09:13:07AM -0800, Jeremy C. Reed wrote: > > The reason why we should call this a GNU system is that it is the GNU project > > is the reason why free operating systems are popular at all nowadays. Are you > > I disagree. It is *one* of the reasons. It's one of the biggest reasons. > > one of those people who thinks "Linux" popped up because Linus > > Torvalds wrote a kernel and then looked around for a userland to go > > with it and by pure coincidence he found everything he needed? *clue > > bat* That wasn't a coincident at all, it was a result of the GNU > > project, which was started back when Linus Torvalds was running around > > in diapers. And GNU/Linux is what has made free operating systems > > popular. > > I know "diapers" is an exaggeration. But it is important to note that a > lot of freely-distributable, open source was available before GNU existed. There were some free pieces yes. But there wasn't a free system. BSD had a lot of legal issues AFAIK. > > And even though we in this case have chosen not to use the GNU Kernel > > (which, BTW, is called "HURD") nor the GNU C Library, we still have > > tons of GNU software involved. autoconf, bash, binutils, bison, chill, > > cpio, cpp, file, fileutils, findutils, gcc, info, less, m4, make, sed, > > shellutils, tar, etc. Not exactly small stuff. > > Yes, but as another poster suggested -- it would be nice for the Debian > administrator to be able to choose to use BSD equivalents. There is still a lot of software from the BSD projects and a lot of software from GNU, so we should name both IMHO. > And be sure to note that many Debian-packaged software and resources are > not GNU-related. And most importantly, many of the key "Debian NetBSD" > utilities are not GPL'd. I don't see what licenses have to do with this discussion. > > The Debian Project has chosen to associate itself with the ideals of the GNU > > project and develop GNU-based and/or GNU-like operating systems, and that's > > It seems like it has been hard to decide to even call it GNU/Linux. (If I > recall correctly, it was sometimes changed back and forth.) > > > what we are doing here. We might as well say so. > > Please don't say "we". I personally feel like I am sometimes forced to use > GPL'd projects. (This is getting off-topic for this list, but I'd be glad > to expand on this.) I think you use GPL'd software, not GPL'd projects. But of course some proprietary piece software with some BSD licensed code like windows is better than a GPL'd software. > My vote is for "Debian NetBSD". My vote is for Debian GNU/NetBSD or Debian GNU/BSD. Jeroen Dekkers -- Jabber supporter - http://www.jabber.org Jabber ID: jdekkers@jabber.org Debian GNU supporter - http://www.debian.org http://www.gnu.org IRC: jeroen@openprojects
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