Re: GNU GNU GNU
> I think this is the major argument. If we take a Debian NetBSD base system
> and compare it to a Debian GNU/Linux base system, what is the difference
> in distribution of code between the two? I'd imagine that the loss of
> glibc does tilt things more towards NetBSD than would otherwise be the
> case, but what proportion of GNU code are we replacing with BSD code and
> does that reduce the amount of GNU code present to the point that it
> should be considered a major constituent rather than the major
> constituent?
OK, how about a compromise? We'll call it just Debian NetBSD, but GNU bash has
to go. You see, I prefer zsh anyways. :)
Seriously, who else could be considered a big contributor? Everything else is
from single sources... the Apache Foundation just does Apache, the Samba
Project just does Samba, Larry Wall just does Perl, etc. The only two big
sources of many things here are obviously GNU and BSD. We all agree that BSD
should be mentioned, so the question is, should we also mention GNU? I think
there are two answers here - the technical answer and the political answer. The
political answer has been expressed sufficiently hereabouts, and we can all
imagine that it would be even harsher from some of the BSD folks. But,
technically speaking, what would there be of the system without GNU? For one
thing, we wouldn't have a compiler, so none of this stuff would ever get into
binary form in the first. Well, we could use the Intel compiler, but I've found
that it takes some porting effort, and it certainly isn't DFSG-compatible. And
then, at least as the default, we have a whole lot of really basic utilities
which noone can live without - the shell and stuff like ls, cat, less, rm, etc.
from the GNU project. Is this not worthy of credit?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a die-hard FSFie. As a matter of fact, I find the
"version 2 or any later version" bit very scary (and would never let myself be
suckered into it for my own programs). But the GNU project has contributed a
lot to free software, and I think they deserve recognition for it.
Mind you, I don't think it's worth having a protracted flame war over.
- Michael
=====
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS/MU d- s+:+ a--- C++ ULISBH+++ P+++ L++(-) E-
W--(+) N o? K? w--- !O !M V?> PS+++ !PE Y+ PGP-
t+(-) 5 X R+>+++ tv-- b++ DI(+) D G e->+++ h r-- y
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail!
http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/
Reply to: