Re: Debian trademark [was: Debian GNU/w32, may ready to be started?]
Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net> writes:
> On 3 Dec 2001, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
>
> > Dale Scheetz <dwarf@polaris.net> writes:
> >
> > > RMS approached Debian nearly insisting that the distro be called Debian
> > > GNU/Linux because of the large component of GNU sofware in the distro. Why
> > > would he have any different desire for a set of GNU packages delivered to
> > > a non-Linux platform?
> >
> > Because that particular non-Linux platform is not a free software
> > platform.
>
> So, neither is Sun OS. GNU software runs just fine in that proprietary OS.
Nobody calls it "GNU/SunOS".
> According the the FSF, any distribution that uses the complete set of GNU
> tools IS a GNU system, no matter what you want to call it.
Um, no. You just don't understand the FSF's position. The FSF's
position is that there is a specific operating system, called "GNU".
There is this related thing, called "GNU/Linux", which is a variant of
the GNU system in which the kernel is Linux.
But if you try to make a variant of the GNU system in which the kernel
isn't even free, you've stripped out an essential part of the GNU
system, so that the result is not even a variant of the GNU system
anymore.
> No, I'm saying that it is silly to suggest that Debian becomes less free
> when run on a proprietary OS.
Debian is the complete OS, not some random assemblege of pieces. If
the complete OS isn't free, then it isn't free.
If you want to take a bunch of Debian packages and port them to
windoze, feel free! All I ask is:
1) Don't call it GNU.
2) Don't call it Debian.
3) Don't use Debian resources for the effort.
Thomas
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