Re: that old GNU/Linux argument

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> > It is a war.
> 
> Indeed.  A war for freedom for all software users.  A war
> that started
> back in 1983, and whose proponents have suffered many
> threats and
> losses, but also several wins.
> 
> One of the greatest threats these days are people who just
> don't care
> about freedom, who just want to use the software and who
> would love to
> sacrifice whatever freedom was already achieved for some
> temporary
> convenience.  People who will fight vigorously against any
> attempt to
> educate others about these issues.

I care about freedom, I just do not care for the GNU attaching itself to Linux. i.e, GNU/Linux  to me it does not make a difference.  Arguming for the GNU part to be included is senseless, it already is there
$ uname -o 
will give you what you want.  That is it.  Asking me to write it, I can, but I do not agree with it.  Accepting that would be to accept other projects and surely a much bigger battle of epic proportions would be created.  i.e, Xorg/GNU/Linux/KDE/Gnonme/TeXLive/php/perl/ruby/Firefox/Mozilla, this cannot be accepted.  If you concede to accept GNU/Linux, which is already there ($ uname -o), you would have to concede to such big names, in which everyone would want to include their name as well :(

> 
>   They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little
> temporary
>   safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. -- Ben
> Franklin, freedom
>   fighter
> 
> > A war between the FSF who want the GNU part attached
> to Linux
>
You have not given up in pushing that name, GNU/Linux, it is already there, what more do you want?
Pushing it further will not make it happen and get more resistance.
$ uname -o
> 
> This is just a smaller battle, not the war.  Your choice of
> words is
> quite poor and extremely unfair.  The FSF is not the only
> one who
> makes this request and works for software freedom or on the
> GNU
> project, and nobody is requesting to have their own names
> attached to
> Linux.  
RMS is the one requesting this as you have posted this as well as I have posted it too 

http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2006-August/msg00101.html

> Linux is a kernel.  All we ask for is to have the
> name of the
> operating system created to give people freedom back where
> it should
> always have been: on the operating system that people chose
As should have always been, remember should* does not mean that it is, it is by force, ($ uname -o), but not fully endorsed by all.  

> it should
> always have been: on the operating system that people chose
> to run on
> top of the kernel Linux.
People did not choose it to run on top of the linux kernel, they wanted the HURD kernel, but since it did not meet the needs of the people, they wrapped around the GNU utilities on top of that kernel created by Linus Torvalds, that could have been named Freax, 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Linux

Linus Torvalds had wanted to call his invention Freax, a portmanteau of "freak," "free," and "x," an allusion to Unix. 
<quote>
The designation "Linux" was initially used by Torvalds only for the Linux kernel. The kernel was, however, frequently used together with other software, especially that of the GNU project. This quickly became the most popular adoption of GNU software. In June 1994 in GNU's bulletin, Linux was referred to as a "free UNIX clone", and the Debian project began calling its product Debian GNU/Linux. In May 1996, Richard Stallman published the editor Emacs 19.31, in which the type of system was renamed from Linux to Lignux. This spelling was intended to refer specifically to the combination of GNU and Linux, but this was soon abandoned in favor of "GNU/Linux".[14].
This name garnered varying reactions. The GNU and Debian projects use the name, although most developers simply use the term "Linux" to refer to the combination.
</quote>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds
> 
> -- 

Instead of asking the users of Linux ($ uname -o), to give credit, why not ask the distributions themselves?  They are ones that truly name the distributions Distroname-GNU/Linux, so far I see Debian GNU/Linux as the main one.  Why not force the following distributions to change their names OpenSuse-GNU/Linux,Slackware-GNU/Linux, Ubuntu-GNU/Linux, PCLinuxOS ==> PC/GNU/LinuxOS, Mandriva-GNU/Linux, ..., etc.

This would be the correct thing to do, if you want to create awareness.  For the other argument, I will say

$ uname -o

that is all I will agree to.

Regards,

Antonio 


      

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