Linux and GNU

Linux and the GNU Project.

When discussing the history of Linux, it is often attributed to Linus Torvalds, the Finnish student who began writing the Linux kernel in 1991. Certainly, the kernel is a key component, without which the operating system would be useless. However, there is more to the story than Linus alone.

Back in the early days of computing, most programmers wrote,shared, and improved each others programs for the benefit of all.

Richard Stallman, who was a programmer at MIT from 1971 to 1983 worked extensively in this environment and continued to believe software should be shared, not closed off and made proprietary. When he left MIT, he started the GNU Project to develop a free clone of the Unix operating system. Freedom, in this case, refers not to price, but to what you are allowed to do with your computer and its software.

In 1991, Linux Torvalds began working on the kernel which came to be known as Linux. He also wanted to produce a Unix like operating system.

At the time when Linus began the his kernel, the GNU Project had most of the other components which would make up a working Unix-like system, but they lacked a suitable kernel. Linus and the people working with him had that kernel.

By putting the Linux kernel together with the GNU libraries and utilities, a working Unix-like system came to be.

Members of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation prefer that Linux be referred to as GNU/Linux. Others simply call it Linux, after the kernel.

While I don't intend to go into that debate, I do feel it is important to understand the proper history of Linux and the contributions of both Linus Torvalds and the GNU Project. Take away the contributions of either, and there would be no Linux as an operating system.

More information on the GNU Project can be found at The GNU Project for those interested.