Is There Still Enough GNU In Linux To Call It GNU/Linux?
By Taylor Gillespie
Expert Author
Article Date: 2011-06-02
Richard Stallman and by extension the Free Software Foundation have long argued that because Linux owes much to GNU, it should be called GNU/Linux and not simply Linux. On his blog, Pedro Côrte-Real, analyzed the source code of the Ubuntu "Natty Narwhal" release in order to gauge how many lines of code is purely GNU software, and how many did not originate from GNU. The evidence is strikingly against GNU's claims of deserving credit and recognition in name.
Admittedly, Richard Stallman and GNU were the impetus of starting a free Unix alternative that ran on commodity personal computers, and the idea of free software itself. The Linux kernel, and thereby Linux, depended on the GNU software toolset to give the Linux kernel purpose and user-space functionality. Tools like GCC, GDB, emacs, and the main binutils, the "basic commands" (e.g ls, cp, mv) were provided to by the Free Software Foundation and GNU. That work was done before the general purpose kernel. GNU had and still has plans for their own kernel, GNU Hurd, but Linus released Linux under the GNU General Public License, and through the magic of open source, gained developer traction before the GNU could make their kernel.
Pedro's chart shows that by a pure line of code count, GNU software, including GNOME is about 13%. That number is not quite a significant portion of the software package, so many will say its obvious that GNU doesn't have any claims on Linux and should not get any credit. While I personally never call it GNU/Linux, I know that most of the software that I depend on was written as GNU software. The basic binutils commands, bash, gcc are all core to my Linux experience. GNU provided the GPL that allowed Linux and open-source to flourish. So, while I will not start calling it GNU/Linux, pure lines of code ratios do not conclusively relate who's code is more influential in a Linux distribution. The GNU software, and ideals, is every bit as important as the Linux kernel itself.
About the Author:
Taylor is a Staff Writer for WebProNews
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