Linux or GNU/Linux

[Chris Tyler]

On Sun, 2012-07-29 at 23:53 -0700, John Wendel wrote:
> On 07/29/2012 10:09 PM, Junayeed Ahnaf Nirjhor wrote:
> 
> > Hello all, 
> > 
> > Just thought about asking you guys what the actual name is, Linux or
> > GNU/Linux (In our Bangladeshi community, we're really divided on
> > this issue).
> > 
> > I personally prefer Linux , what do you think?
> > -- 
> > Junayeed Ahnaf Nirjhor
> > Developer, Hulu & Diaspora
> > Twitter - @Nirjhor
> > 
> > 
> > 
> It's possible to have a Linux OS based system that doesn't use any of
> the GNU libraries or apps. In this case, GNU/Linux would be
> inappropriate. Fedora is not such a system.

They're all abbreviations.

"Linux" is shorthand. "GNU/Linux" is still shorthand. I personally run
GNU/Linux/Xorg/Apache/BSD/LibreOffice/MySQL/Mozilla, but don't usually
refer to it that way, and that's still an abbreviation.

The GNU project is awesome and deserves credit; so do all the other
communities that have contributed [tens of millions of lines of code] to
the free software and open source systems I use. Mentioning them all in
the name of the system is awkward and impedes communication. Anyone who
knows what I'm talking about knows about the FSF and the GNU Project;
anyone who doesn't isn't enlightened by expanding the name.

I find that "Fedora" is pretty descriptive shorthand and identifies both
the universe of software and the community I work with most closely;
"Linux" also works for me personally.

-Chris