Linux

From TheLinuxVault

(Redirected from GNU/Linux)

Linux is often used to describe a whole computer operating system based in a similar structure to Unix that contains both GNU components and the Linux kernel. It is also sometimes also used to describe programs used on the Linux kernel as "Linux programs". "Linux" specifically refers to the kernel. The operating system is more specifically referred to as GNU/Linux, a combination of the Linux kernel and system tools from the GNU project that can be freely modified, copied, and redistributed.

Linux is one of the most crowning achievements of the free software and open source movements, developed and still developing entirely through a collaborative effort comprised of corporations and individuals united via the internet.

The creation of the components of the GNU/Linux operating system began in 1984, when Richard Stallman began to create free software alternatives to components of the Unix system, which was originally developed at Bell Labs. The majority of the GNU/Linux operating system is comprised of these programs, including the GNU C compiler, GNU C library, and GNU Binary Utilities, among others.

Meanwhile, Linus Torvalds, a student at the University of Helsinki, wanted to port Minix, an academic version of Unix, to his home PC, and in that effort managed to design the Linux kernel.

Thanks to the power of the internet, and the GNU General Public License, users were able to synthesize the GNU programs and the Linux kernel to produce various distributions of Linux.