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- Embed this notice@kirby @RustyCrab I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as GNU, is in fact, Linux/GNU, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, Linux plus GNU. GNU is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning OS made useful by the Linux kernel, comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. Many computer users run a modified version of the Linux system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of Linux which is widely used today is often called “GNU”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the Linux system, developed by the Linux Project. There really is a GNU, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The corelibs are an essential part of an operating system, but useless by themselves; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. GNU is normally used in combination with the Linux operating system: the whole system is basically Linux with GNU added, or Linux/GNU. All the so-called “GNU” distributions are really distributions of Linux/GNU.