翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Thursday, 04-Apr-2024 20:10:10 JST
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翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Thursday, 04-Apr-2024 20:10:10 JST 翠星石 @wall0159 Ding ding ding winner of most confusing and incorrect statements in a sentence for the year so far.
>the Linux kernel
Linux is only a kernel and referring to it using that naming convention continues the current massive confusion.
Most OS's are developed with the kernel tightly coupled with the rest of the system of software that allows you to operate the computer, so the kernel doesn't typically end up with a name.
As a result, when it comes to referring to unnamed kernels, typically people say; the <OS name> kernel, for example; "the NT kernel" or "the OpenBSD kernel".
What's different about GNU/Linux is that GNU was developed first and then an additional kernel (Linux) was developed for it separately, but of course people have taken to referring to GNU as "Linux" and so for some reason people further the confusion by adopting a confusing naming scheme when referring to Linux as Linux.
There's also systemd/Linux, BusyBox/Linux and Android, with vast differences, with the only similarity being the kernel in use, which is why one should give Linux to Linus and GNU to GNU.
>it is licensed under the GPL
There are many licenses in the GPL family not just one.
What Linux developers actually claim that some parts are under GPLv2-only, some GPLv2-or-later and some under difference licenses (mind you, they'll only admit that some parts are under proprietary licenses despite the GPLv2 incompatibility if you make them).
I checked the Linux "sources" myself and found many cases of proprietary software disguised as arrays of numbers without source code, with the wrong license (a GPLv2 SPDX header is a lie if there's no source code nor offer for source).
>open source licence
The GPLv2 is a free software license - no license in the GPL family has "open" in it;
"The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for all its users."; https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html