Re: [gNewSense-users] Parts of GNU/Linux which aren't parts of GNU

[Matthew Flaschen]

Guy Johnston wrote:
> Hi, I've been reading on the GNU website that GNU/Linux "is basically
> GNU, with Linux functioning as its kernel". Does anyone know which parts
> of a standard GNU/Linux system aren't also part of the official GNU
> system, apart from the Linux kernel (not including applications which
> aren't part of the actual operating system)?

This isn't as well-defined as you think.  Linux is specifically not part
of the GNU system (since Hurd
[http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html] is supposed to be), but it
usually isn't so cut and dried.

> I know that GNU contains some free software which wasn't specifically
> written for it, such as the X window system, as there's no need to
> replace them, because its aim is to make a complete free software
> operating system available, not to write all the parts of one from
> scratch when that isn't necessary.

You can of course see a list of official (most with copyright owned by
FSF) GNU software at http://directory.fsf.org/GNU/ , but whether other
software should be considered part of GNU isn't so sure.

Matthew Flaschen

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