www/gnu linux-and-gnu.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /webcvs/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       08/01/18 03:08:26

Modified files:
        gnu            : linux-and-gnu.html 

Log message:
        Mention and link to BLOB-free variant of Linux.
        Don't expect HURD to work soon.
        
        Other clarifications.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.53&r2=1.54

Patches:
Index: linux-and-gnu.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /webcvs/www/www/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html,v
retrieving revision 1.53
retrieving revision 1.54
diff -u -b -r1.53 -r1.54
--- linux-and-gnu.html  2 Oct 2007 04:06:57 -0000       1.53
+++ linux-and-gnu.html  18 Jan 2008 03:08:03 -0000      1.54
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
 the goal of developing a free Unix-like
 system, called GNU.  The <a href="/gnu/initial-announcement.html">
 Initial Announcement</a> of the GNU Project also outlines some of the
-original plans for the GNU system. By the time Linux was written, GNU
+original plans for the GNU system. By the time Linux was started, GNU
 was almost finished.</p>
 
 <p>
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
 choice would be &ldquo;GNU&rdquo;.</p>
 
 <p>
-But we don't think that is the right way to consider the question.
+But that is not the deepest way to consider the question.
 The GNU Project was not, is not, a project to develop specific
 software packages.  It was not a
 project <a href="/software/gcc/gcc.html"> to develop a C compiler</a>,
@@ -118,8 +118,8 @@
 <a href="/software/hurd/hurd.html">GNU Hurd</a>, which runs on top of
 Mach).  Developing this kernel has been a lot harder than we expected;
 <a href="/software/hurd/hurd-and-linux.html">the GNU Hurd started
-working reliably in 2001</a>.  We're now starting to prepare the
-actual release of the GNU system, with the GNU Hurd.</p>
+working reliably in 2001</a>, but it is a long way from being ready
+for people to use in general.</p>
 
 <p>
 Fortunately, we didn't have to wait for the Hurd, because Linux was
@@ -135,22 +135,23 @@
 for more info.&rdquo;</a></p>
 
 <p>
-Putting them together sounds simple, but it was not a trivial job.
-Some GNU components<a href="#somecomponents">(3)</a> needed substantial
-change to work with Linux.  Integrating a complete system as a
-distribution that would work &ldquo;out of the box&rdquo; was a big job, too.
-It required addressing the issue of how to install and boot the
-system&mdash;a problem we had not tackled, because we hadn't yet reached
-that point.  The people who developed the various system distributions
-made a substantial contribution.</p>
-
-<p>
-The GNU Project supports GNU/Linux systems as well as <em>the</em>
-GNU system&mdash;even with funds.  We funded the rewriting of the
-Linux-related extensions to the GNU C library, so that now they are
-well integrated, and the newest GNU/Linux systems use the current
-library release with no changes.  We also funded an early stage of the
-development of Debian GNU/Linux.</p>
+Putting them together was not a trivial job.  Some GNU
+components<a href="#somecomponents">(3)</a> needed substantial change
+to work with Linux.  Integrating a complete system as a distribution
+that would work &ldquo;out of the box&rdquo; was a big job, too.  It
+required addressing the issue of how to install and boot the
+system&mdash;a problem we had not tackled, because we hadn't yet
+reached that point.  Thus, the people who developed the various system
+distributions did a lot of essential work.  But it was work that,
+in the nature of things, was surely going to be done by someone.</p>
+
+<p>
+The GNU Project supports GNU/Linux systems as well as <em>the</em> GNU
+system, and the FSF funds work on them.  The FSF funded the rewriting
+of the Linux-related extensions to the GNU C library, so that now they
+are well integrated, and the newest GNU/Linux systems use the current
+library release with no changes.  The FSF also funded an early stage
+of the development of Debian GNU/Linux.</p>
 
 <p>
 We use Linux-based GNU systems today for all of our work, and we hope
@@ -159,7 +160,19 @@
 non-free software&mdash;their developers follow the philosophy associated
 with Linux rather than that of GNU.  But there are also
 <a href="/links/links.html#FreeGNULinuxDistributions"> completely free
-GNU/Linux distros</a>.</p>
+GNU/Linux distros</a>.  The FSF supports computer facilities for two
+of these distributions, <a href="http://ututo.org";>Ututo</a>
+and <a href="http://gnewsense.org/";>gNewSense</a>.</p>
+
+<p>Making a free GNU/Linux distribution is not just a matter of
+eliminating various non-free programs.  Nowadays, the usual version of
+Linux contains non-free programs too.  These programs are intended to
+be loaded into I/O devices when the system starts, and they are
+present in binary form only, included in the "source code" in the form
+of long series of numbers.  Thus, maintaining free GNU/Linux
+distributions now entails maintaining
+a <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/proiject/linux";> free version of
+Linux</a> too.</p>
 
 <p>Whether you use GNU/Linux or not, please don't confuse the public
 by using the name &ldquo;Linux&rdquo; ambiguously.  Linux is the kernel, one of
@@ -267,7 +280,7 @@
 <p>
 Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2007/10/02 04:06:57 $
+$Date: 2008/01/18 03:08:03 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>