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3 lines
1 KiB
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IdjustliketointerjectforamomentWhatyou'rereferingtoasLinux,isinfact,GNU/Linux,orasI'verecentlytakentocallingit,GNUplusLinux.Linuxisnotanoperatingsystemuntoitself,butratheranotherfreecomponentofafullyfunctioningGNUsystemmadeusefulbytheGNUcorelibs,shellutilitiesandvitalsystemcomponentscomprisingafullOSasdefinedbyPOSIX.
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ManycomputerusersrunamodifiedversionoftheGNUsystemeveryday,withoutrealizingit.Throughapeculiarturnofevents,theversionofGNUwhichiswidelyusedtodayisoftencalledLinux,andmanyofitsusersarenotawarethatitisbasicallytheGNUsystem,developedbytheGNUProject.
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TherereallyisaLinux,andthesepeopleareusingit,butitisjustapartofthesystemtheyuse.Linuxisthekernel:theprograminthesystemthatallocatesthemachine'sresourcestotheotherprogramsthatyourun.Thekernelisanessentialpartofanoperatingsystem,butuselessbyitself;itcanonlyfunctioninthecontextofacompleteoperatingsystem.LinuxisnormallyusedincombinationwiththeGNUoperatingsystem:thewholesystemisbasicallyGNUwithLinuxadded,orGNU/Linux.Alltheso-calledLinuxdistributionsarereallydistributionsofGNU/Linux!
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