this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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I use Arch btw


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big deal (jlai.lu)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
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[–] [email protected] 76 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ackchually my OS is GNU/Linux/systemd/Gnome/Fedora/Wayland/dnf/flatpak or something, did I forget one? idgaf

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Colleague:
"I need to use Linux and my boyfriend suggested I use Ubuntu, is that right?"

Me (screaming internally, deciding on whether to rant on bloatware, on Canonical, on reproducibility, on monetization, on many things wrong with the world, but not wanting to come off as an elitist, nor scare her off the idea altogether):
"... that, that should be fine."

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I would say use Mint, I think nowadays that's the better beginner distro. Actually it's also kind of the pro-user distro. Fiddling around to tweak everything and get it just right is fun in your 20s, but when you need to work, have kids and a wife mint is fine 😛

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You know what? I'm gonna fucking say it, GNU is a shitty name and that's why no one uses it! Most people don't care about credit or accuracy, Linux is just infinitely better than GNU/anything or even just GNU on its own.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Yes it is 😎

[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 year ago (9 children)

I still don't get why a toolchain that can be replaced but never was able to make a stable kernel of its own after twenty years should get top billing in the name of the OS. A lot of that stuff was left in the dust, its relevance to the system grows smaller each year while the Linux kernel is the only reason they were ever able to make a complete OS in the first place.

Hardly anyone uses GNU without Linux; way more people use Linux without GNU than with it.

Plus, the community at large has decided long ago that the name is just Linux... Does it matter that that's the name of the kernel? No. Windows and MacOS aren't named after their kernels, or their toolchains, or any other component.

Anyway, there wasn't an OS until there was Linux to bring it all together.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Sounds like a good basis for some kind of techno-fantasy media.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think the only reason people really have for calling it GNU/Linux is to raise awareness about the Free Software movement and its agenda.

The line between "kernel" and "the rest of the OS" is and has always been a fuzzy one. I think RMS would consider GCC to be part of the OS, but I've never seen an Android device with a compiler installed. (And I've sometimes done *GNU/*Linux installations and never gone on to install GCC, though usually I end up installing GCC at some point.)

I don't think it's more "correct" to call it "GNU/Linux" than "Linux" per se. (After all, if we're going down that rabbithole, should I be calling it "Syslinux/Systemd/etc/etc/etc/GNU/Linux?")

But, if you're ideologically aligned with the Free Software movement and want to see more awareness of its mission (and full disclosure, that describes me) then by all means, call it "GNU/Linux" if you like.

All that said, I do think a lot of folks who insist on calling it "GNU/Linux" strongly believe not only that it's good for awareness about Free Software, but also that it's more "correct" to call it "GNU/Linux."

And I'll also say I can kindof understand why people might feel it's more correct. From RMS' perspective, he and some other folks were off building an OS and they had it mostly done and people started using the GNU work with a Linux kernel. But still, that historical argument holds less water every year.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm more or less philosophically and ideologically aligned with the FSF, but don't really want to bring attention to them as they seem far more interested in ideological purity than actually doing good work or being actually useful, which is a massive turn off for most people.

They're also still doggedly aligned with RMS who's, honestly, a hot mess. At best, he's embarrassing and off-putting and would rather argue over Linux vs "gu-new slash Linux" (and insisting on pronouncing gnu incorrectly and citing a song that was actually making fun of people pronouncing it that way) than talk about things that actually matter for the cause, and will refuse to work with anyone who doesn't do things his way (and at worst... Well, there's all the stuff that got him temporarily kicked out of the FSF, and them bringing him back after that all came out was not good for the community).

Ideological purity is actually harmful to the free sharing of knowledge and ideas, which is what they claim to be for.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Depending what exactly you mean by "ideological purity," I might somewhat disagree with you.

I definitely want there to (continue to) exist an organization pushing for all software to be FOSS. If the Free Software movement didn't exist but the OSS movement did, I expect there'd be much less FOSS out there. There are a lot of projects out there that don't have a good OSS movement reason for existing. Coreboot, for instance. Arguably to a large extent Wine as well. And LineageOS and GrapheneOS. And OpenWRT. Not to mention ~(GNU/)~Linux itself. I don't imagine most OSS folks to be quite so motivated to want fully-FOSS-from-soup-to-nuts kind of options as Free Software folks are.

There are plenty of software companies publishing more proprietary software for Linux and plenty of OSS folks heralding that as a huge win. For the most part, I see that as unfortunate. And I have reasons why that I can point to that wouldn't be seen (well... quite as much, at least) as tinfoil-hat levels of paranoia.

And then there's copyleft. I think that's a fuckin' great thing that's needed more now than ever, but (and I don't know for sure... correct me if you think I'm wrong, but) I think that's more of a thing among Free Software folks than among Open Source folks.

And I don't think any of the above could have come about or at least been quite as prominent today as they are without such an ideologically-motivated movement. The FSF put a very aggressive line in the sand saying "proprietary software shouldn't exist." Basically the main thing that distinguishes the OSS movement from the Free Software movement is tolerance of proprietary software.

Also, I don't really know for sure the extent to which this is actually the case for OSS folks as a whole, but ESR's "the solution to everything is more capitalism" is pretty fucked up.

That said, I 110% agree the Free Software movement needs to be doing mostly everything it can to distance itself from RMS.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

Here the evidence that the fediverse is peaceful. No one lynching this user.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

I use KDE btw with Arch as my terminal emulator.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

The choice of desktop environment is much more relevant for users than those coreutils. KDE/Linux it is

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

I just call in not Windows that's more than specific enough

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Linux is a name, not a description of the parts. It can mean just the kernel, or the entire family of operating systems, depending on the context.

It's what we settled on, and there is no point in debating the name unless there is a real problem with it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

What about OS with Linux kernel but no GNU stuff?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Right? Most of the time when I build linux I’m not using GNU because of its burdensome license. Realistically you usually don’t need most of the binaries anyway, and those you do like echo and ls are trivial to reimplement, at least for their common functionality.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

It's actually Linux and Linux's Monster, but most people get the monster's name wrong.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

I don't care what you call it. Call it Steve if you want. GNU/Linux is awkward to say and will never catch on though.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Simple solution: call all of it Linux, all the way down the programs and individual files to make everyone angry!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yo dawg, I heard you like Linux, so I put Linux in your Linux so you can Linux while you Linux.

(On second thought, that sounds a lot like “smurfs”)

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

gnu coreutils are linux

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

"IT WAS COMPILED WITH GCC! THAT MEANS ITS STILL GNU!"

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

it can has if you apk add coreutils

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called "Linux", and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called "Linux" distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd like to interject for a moment, what you are referring to as Mexico is in fact the United States of Mexico.  A Federation Republic comprised of 31 free and sovereign States each with its own constitution, judiciary, and democratically election Congressional entity.   The 31 individual and unique States form a Federation consisting of a bilateral Congress consisting of a Republic Senate and a Chamber of Deputies entrusted with creation of law,  imposing taxes,  ratifying treaties and international diplomacy.  The Federal entity is further comprised of an Executive wing charged with enforcing the laws,  emergency dictation and commanding the military.  The third and final wing is a Judicial entity consisting of regional courts and a High Court of 11 jurist charged with interpreting any discrepancies that may between the Sovreign States or within the Law itself

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Let's make it lignux, but replace gnu with the Spanish word ñu and now it's liñux

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Dammit I cannot unsee it now.

I will keep saying Liñux now.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Let's put an end to this systemd-debated!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

It’s all semantics. In my mind, the OS is Tux Racer, and the kernel is Ubuntu.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

but it was built with gcc ;!!!!!!🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

If your goal is absolutely no GNU Linux, Chimera Linux is your jam.

If using a single program makes a distro part of that program's organization, then Linux's name gets really long.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, the kernel is Linux and the OS is whatever the distribution or special purpose is called.

There is a distinction as Linux is used in far more than operating systems and at times is run with just the kernel and an application, with no possible interface between any user and application.

Problem is that most Linux desktop users have fuck all clue what Linux is all used for and wouldn't know how to interface with 99% of all the linux running devices on the planet.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But is that really a problem?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, since you can also use a different Kernel and end up with something that looks like a Linux distribution, anyone who has ever used common Linux distributions is instantly familiar with, while definitely not being Linux.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Just to be clear:

It was actually the young guy throwing the chair in the show. His text is supposed to be saying something angrily at that panel.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Why do you guys insist on calling it GNU/Linux? It'd be like if you called your car a V8, and some weirdo insists you call it "transmission/V8"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

What they didn’t mention is that hat guy is an Alpine user.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

grabs mic I'd just like to interject for a moment.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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