Re: "MIT/GNU/Linux"

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

>> I believe RMS's use of "GNU" in "GNU/Linux" does not really refer to the
>> so-called GNU tools, but the GNU project which endeavored, long before it
>> seemed even remotely possible, to build a 100% Free Software operating
>> system.

> That's true.  However, you should also consider the vastness of how much
> code the GNU Project has produced.  Everything from chown to GNOME.

What I meant above is that a vast amount of non-GNU code is Free Software
thanks to the GNU project, so even if "the GNU project"[1] did not
contribute any code to it, its existence as a Free Software is partly due to
the GNU project.

In any case, to a large extent, the only difference between "GNU programs"
and "non-GNU programs" is the extent to which the maintainers agreed to
associate their project's name with the GNU moniker, which is mostly
a political decision.


        Stefan


[1] "The GNU project" is much more a concept than a bunch of people.