Re: [school-discuss] Donated Computers announcement, Take III

[jkinz@ultranet.com]

On Mon, May 06, 2002 at 02:59:52PM +1000, Daniel Carter wrote:
> I personally prefer referring to 'Linux' as 'GNU/Linux'.  After all, most
> of the core software in any 'Linux distribution' is part of the GNU System.
> Does anyone else agree with me?


Hi Dan and everyone.
The GNU code is not most of the system by any absolute measure.
By labeling certain portions of the code "core" and other parts
"non-core" you can come up with any set of proportions you want.

I just looked at Dave Wheelers analysis of the Redhat 7.1 source code.

For the 25 largest components, GNU code is only 26 % of the total.
Most of the 25 largest components are likely to be considered part
of a "core" distribution.  The top 25 components are 58% of the 
system.

For the rest of the system, since most of the GNU components are 
in the top 25 largest the GNU portion is even less as there 
are proportionately fewer GNU packages in the rest of the system.

By absolute measure, GNU code is likely to end up being less
than 20 percent of the system and could be as low as 7 or 8 percent.

However - despite being only a "small" part of a large body of work
I must agree that Linux probably would not have the success it is
enjoying today without the foundations of the GNU project to build
upon.

Heh - After all - its very diffcult to compile code without
a compiler or write it without an editor, or keep track of
files without file tools......... (etc ad nauseum... ) :-)

I take no position on the GNU/Linux vs Linux naming argument
but I think the former is likely to cause confusion with
the current style of naming Linuxen by the 
"<Distribution>  <Release>  Linux"  pattern.

For example "RedHat 7.2 Linux", "Mandrake 8 Linux".

When the "Linux" is left off, its presence is implied.

No one assumes "VMS" when "RedHat 7.2" is mentioned.  :-)

In my mind the "GNU" is also implied whenever Linux is
mentioned.