[gnuastro-commits] master 50b11778: Book: more links and clarifications in New to GNU/Linux

[Mohammad Akhlaghi]

branch: master
commit 50b11778845205bf00768c5fb8503d6179b40f41
Author: Mohammad Akhlaghi <mohammad@akhlaghi.org>
Commit: Mohammad Akhlaghi <mohammad@akhlaghi.org>

    Book: more links and clarifications in New to GNU/Linux
    
    Until now, the "New to GNU/Linux?" section wasn't too complete (not
    pointing to some relevant GNU links). During an email discussion with
    Richard Stallman, he pointed to the following links that would be useful in
    this section:
    
    Richard also had the following comment about the car carburetor example
    (which was taken from [3]): "I think that's a little too strong as a
    put-down of Linx. The kernel is a major system component, much bigger in an
    OS than a carburetor is in a car.  Many cars don't even have carburetors,
    but every system needs something comparable to the kernel."
    
    With this commit, the links of [1] and [2] have been added and we now
    compare the kernel to the engine of a car, with some further explanation
    that the engine along won't get you from A to B: you still need wheels, a
    chassis, seats, a wind shield and etc.
    
    [1] https://gnu.org/philosophy
    [2] https://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html
    [3] https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-users-never-heard-of-gnu.html
    
    The added part on the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) was confirmed with
    the help of Marjan Akbari.
---
 doc/announce-acknowledge.txt |  2 ++
 doc/gnuastro.texi            | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/announce-acknowledge.txt b/doc/announce-acknowledge.txt
index b2dac715..df80c78a 100644
--- a/doc/announce-acknowledge.txt
+++ b/doc/announce-acknowledge.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 Alphabetically ordered list to acknowledge in the next release.
 
+Marjan Akbari
+Richard Stallman
 
 
 
diff --git a/doc/gnuastro.texi b/doc/gnuastro.texi
index 36e27220..258b85b0 100644
--- a/doc/gnuastro.texi
+++ b/doc/gnuastro.texi
@@ -1248,6 +1248,11 @@ You might have already noticed that we are not using the 
name ``Linux'', but ``G
 Please take the time to have a look at the following essays and FAQs for a 
complete understanding of this very important distinction.
 
 @itemize
+@item
+@url{https://gnu.org/philosophy}
+
+@item
+@url{https://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html}
 
 @item
 @url{https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-users-never-heard-of-gnu.html}
@@ -1261,6 +1266,8 @@ Please take the time to have a look at the following 
essays and FAQs for a compl
 @item
 @url{https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html}
 
+@item
+Recorded talk: @url{https://peertube.stream/w/ddeSSm33R1eFWKJVqpcthN} (first 
20 min is about the history of Unix-like operating systems).
 @end itemize
 
 @cindex Linux
@@ -1269,12 +1276,26 @@ Please take the time to have a look at the following 
essays and FAQs for a compl
 @cindex GCC: GNU Compiler Collection
 @cindex GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)
 In short, the Linux kernel@footnote{In Unix-like operating systems, the kernel 
connects software and hardware worlds.} is built using the GNU C library 
(glibc) and GNU compiler collection (gcc).
-The Linux kernel software alone is just a means for other software to access 
the hardware resources, it is useless alone: to say ``running Linux'', is like 
saying ``driving your carburetor''.
+The Linux kernel software alone is just a means for other software to access 
the hardware resources, it is useless alone!
+A normal astronomer (or scientist) will never interact with the kernel 
directly!
+For example the command-line environment that you interact with is usually GNU 
Bash.
+It is GNU Bash that then talks to kernel.
 
-To have an operating system, you need lower-level (to build the kernel), and 
higher-level (to use it) software packages.
-The majority of such software in most Unix-like operating systems are GNU 
software: ``the whole system is basically GNU with Linux loaded''.
-Therefore to acknowledge GNU's instrumental role in the creation and usage of 
the Linux kernel and the operating systems that use it, we should call these 
operating systems ``GNU/Linux''.
+To better clarify, let's use this analogy inspired from one of the links 
above@footnote{https://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-users-never-heard-of-gnu.html}: 
saying that you are ``running Linux'' is like saying you are ``driving your 
engine''.
+The car's engine is the main source of power in the car, no one doubts that.
+But you don't ``drive'' the engine, you drive the ``car''.
+Without the radiator, battery, transmission, wheels, chassis, seats, 
wind-shield and etc, the engine alone is useless for transportation!
+
+@cindex Window Subsystem for Linux
+To have an operating system, you need lower-level tools (to build the kernel), 
and higher-level (to use it) software packages.
+For the Linux kernel, both the lower-level and higher-level tools are GNU.
+In other words,``the whole system is basically GNU with Linux loaded''.
 
+You can replace the Linux kernel and still have the GNU shell and higher-level 
utilities.
+For example using the ``Windows Subsystem for Linux'', you can use almost all 
GNU tools without the original Linux kernel, but using the host Windows 
operating system, as in @url{https://ubuntu.com/wsl}.
+Alternatively, you can build a fully functional GNU-based working environment 
on a macOS or BSD-based operating system (using the host's kernel and C 
compiler), for example through projects like Maneage (see 
@url{https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.03018, Akhlaghi et al. 2021}, and its Appendix 
C with all the GNU software tools that is exactly reproducible on a macOS also).
+
+Therefore to acknowledge GNU's instrumental role in the creation and usage of 
the Linux kernel and the operating systems that use it, we should call these 
operating systems ``GNU/Linux''.
 
 @menu
 * Command-line interface::      Introduction to the command-line