What's the difference between a Gnu and a Linux?
What's the difference between a Gnu and a Linux?
Gabriel Martin
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Lincoln Taylor
NO PUP DOTN EAT THAT!
Chase Nguyen
YEESS PUP EAT THAT CHOCOLATE!!!!!
MUAHAHAHA
Ethan Reyes
gnu is a cow, linux is a penguin
Jonathan Jenkins
MEANIE
Alexander Rogers
a forward slash
Hudson Miller
checked and upvoted
Xavier Rogers
Many computer users run a modified version ofthe GNU systemevery 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 arenot awarethat it is basically the GNU system, developed by theGNU 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.
Many users do not understand the difference between the kernel, which is Linux, and the whole system, which they also call “Linux”. The ambiguous use of the name doesn't help people understand. These users often think that Linus Torvalds developed the whole operating system in 1991, with a bit of help.
Programmers generally know that Linux is a kernel. But since they have generally heard the whole system called “Linux” as well, they often envisage a history that would justify naming the whole system after the kernel. For example, many believe that once Linus Torvalds finished writing Linux, the kernel, its users looked around for other free software to go with it, and found that (for no particular reason) most everything necessary to make a Unix-like system was already available.
Jaxson Jackson
GNU for Linux is like .net framework for Windows - something a lot of other programs use but not strictly necessary, and there are drop-in replacements like busybox.
David Edwards
GNU is an operating system and Linux is a kernel.