this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2024
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

the less code the better because the more code the higher the maintenance burden

keeping code around isn't free. it makes refactoring harder, it makes compilation times longer, it makes the kernel larger, it makes it harder to guarantee device compatibility. that's all part of maintaining software, but it makes no sense to waste work maintaining shit noone is using, work that could've been used to implement new features and/or maintain existing code that's actually in use

what the kernel is doing is the correct approach. unless they're sure there's someone using the thing: old, unmaintained code = bin