Richard Stallman Is Right To Be Angry About 'Linux'

In this "short" video...Is the operating system "Linux" or is it "GNU/Linux"? Honestly, Richard Stallman has a point...and he has a right to be mad about it.

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[DV-mlfm]

I know it's gnu/linux, but linux rolls off the tongue better.

[ruirosado]

DT managed to maintain a straight face while saying all that. That's an achievement. lol

[BrodieRobertson]

It shouldn't be called GNU/Linux then, if the userland is all that matters it should just be called GNU

[tropicten]

I don’t think Richard Stallman is wrong about GNU/Linux. But it’s an argument that he hasn’t won in 30 years.

[matthewmoore]

I don't call it either. I call it by the distribution name. Debian is Debian, Ubuntu is Ubuntu, Manjaro is Manjaro, and so on. Because if we want to name it the way Stallman and others suggest, Then i'm actually running At some point it just gets silly.

[Henk]

Isn't it SystemD/Linux at this point?

[retroatx]

I don't care what they call it as long as it works. Debian GNU/Linux was my first distro a couple decades ago.

[etherweb]

My favorite part of the GNU/Linux debate is the fact that Stallman still doesnt understand that pronouncing things like Guhnoo is just not going to happen. If GNU wasnt so weirdly named it would have probably never been called Linux.

[MichaelWilliams-lrmb]

Alpine Linux isn't paired with GNU. Should it still be called GNU/Linux?

[ekim]

tbf no one calls Windows "NT"

most people call it trash

[REZNON]

DT's eyes are red... That doesn't look healthy.

[josemonge]

I mean, Linux's source code is massive compared to GNU and the kernel is the most important/complex/vital part of an operating system. Plus, as other people mentioned, we usually go by "Arch", "Manjaro", "Ubuntu", "Debian" rather than by "Linux"

[tomaintaround]

What about Alpine? It doesn’t have GNU tools (please correct me if I’m wrong) and it is considered a Linux distro

[WildWestDesigns]

Branding/marketing has always been an issue with open source projects in general. This is upmost a branding issue moreso compared to a technical issue. Focusing on this technical issue could lose the bigger picture. If it doesn't roll off the tongue or it sounds harsh to the ears, it's got some problems. I know one machine company that chose a name, because it sounded the same in most of the widely used languages (at least in the countries that they did business in). Don't underestimate the importance of that. It may seem small, but it is very important. Right or wrong, the term Linux has won out in the marketing aspect (may or may not win out on the technical aspect, just depends on the individual user is running on their system), at this point, what is more important? Adoption or winning the technical argument?

[xrn]

I think rms IS wrong... I particularly don't like the way that he often says or implies that it's okay to call the whole thing just GNU but it's not okay to call the whole thing just Linux.

RMS doesn't have the same respect for other people's work that he expects people to have for his.

This has nothing to do with precision, attribution, or anything legitimate. It has everything to do with RMS's ego.

Furthermore, telling people what to call their operating system fundamentally violates the entire premise of free software.

If the point is that I should be able to do what I want with my software, then I sure as hell better be able to call it whatever I want.

This is the problem with being ideological and extremist.

[xrn]

And what about the desktop environments... I don't hear xfce or KDE, or Any other desktop environment insisting that you call it i.e 'Linux/KDE'


Furthermore, a lot of us don't say Linux at all, we say the distro name i.e. " I run Debian " or "I use Arch (btw)" - I don't hear Linus or anyone from the Linux Foundation insisting everyone call it Linux/Debian

Once again: this is not about free software it's about RMS's ego.

Freedom isn't about some self-appointed dude telling everybody what technology to use and even want to call it.

[SprocketWatchclock]

I tend to tell people I run Pop OS and only if they ask do I say it runs the Linux kernel. I tend to try to steer the conversation focus on the fact that it's System76 hardware running the operating system purpose built for it compiled by the manufacturer, much like a Mac that runs MacOS.

[RyanBoggs]

Pro tip: Don't rant about controversial topics online when you clearly haven't been sleeping. Those eyes are so red I thought you were crazy high at first.

[blt_r]

We are not arguing that userland is not important, but the userland doesn't only consist of GNU, there is also your init system, package manager, desktop environment and hundreds of other programs that make your operating system useful. Maybe calling it GNU/Linux made sense back in the day, when it literally was just Linux kernel and GNU utils, but nowadays, there is a lot more to the Linux based operating system, and some systems don't even use GNU utils. Naming it after the kernel makes sense because the kernel is the only software that stays constant among all the Linux Distributions.

[christiansmith]

I've never cared less about a debate. I'm probably going to keep calling it Linux because that's the commonly understood term at this point.