GNU/Linux

Richard B. Johnson (root@chaos.analogic.com)
Mon, 10 May 1999 16:34:06 -0400 (EDT)


On Mon, 10 May 1999, Anonymous wrote:
[SNIPPED]
> ... "the whole GNU operating system, as well
> as its variant, the GNU/Linux operating system"

ANSI/IEEE Std 729-1983 Software Engineering Terminology, IEEE
Software Engineering Standards, ISBN 1-55937-008-4
States in part (pp 25);

" Operating system. Software that controls the execution of
programs. An operating system may provide services such as
resource allocation, scheduling, input/output control, and
data management. Although operating systems are predominately
software, partial or complete hardware implementations are
possible. (ISO) An operating system provides support in a
single spot rather than forcing each program to be concerned
with controlling hardware. See also system software. "

pp 35

" System software. Software designed for a specific computer
system or family of computer systems to facilitate the
operation and maintenance of the computer system and associated
programs, for example, operating systems, compilers, utilities.
Contrast with application software ".

Clearly GNU makes system software.

It cannot be the "GNU/Linux operating system"

It is:
"GNU system software and Linux operating system"

possibly:

"GNU-System/Linux-OS"

Cheers,
Dick Johnson
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Penguin : Linux version 2.2.6 on an i686 machine (400.59 BogoMips).
Warning : It's hard to remain at the trailing edge of technology.

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