@xianc78 @PurpCat @beardalaxy @sun >Linux ended up being some minimalist Unix-like operating system unrelated to GNU.
Linux without GNU would have failed and would be dead in the water.

If GNU didn't exist, Linux could not have been written, as you cannot compile a kernel without a compiler (previously there were only proprietary C compilers with heavily restricted usages, that also cost a fortune), you cannot write a makefile without make software (before GNU make, all usable make software was proprietary) and you cannot write a nice looking menuconfig interface without a curses library (like GNU ncurses) and also many other things like a binutils etc.

Writing a complete OS and supporting libraries is a big job, bigger than writing a kernel and I doubt the Linux developers could have pulled it off and even if they did, it would have been a mostly proprietary OS that didn't serve the user.


If GNU developers didn't ask BSD developers to consider making the BSDs free software, the BSD's would have stayed totally proprietary (now they're mostly free, but the developers can't help but to put convenient proprietary software in and ignore unlicensed files).

All roads in software freedom come from GNU.