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Re: co-linux
On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:34:09 -0400, Sam Steingold wrote in
<uhdvmtnmm.fsf@gnu.org>:
>This is confusing.
>Unix is a class of OSes.
>Linux is an instance of that class.
>The syntax of your sentence implies that, when you say Unix, you mean
>an instance, not the class. Which instance? SCO UNIX? AIX? Solaris?
>HP-UX? Apparently SCO (the others do not have `Unix' in the name).
Linux is not an instance of Unix, but rather a Unix-like kernel/OS
distribution, originally conceived as a clone of Minix with a decent
filesystem[1]. Nobody in his right mind would call Minix a Unix, would
it? It is a clone, plain and simple, in the same sense that QNX can
look and feel like plain vanilla Unix.
Now... Free/Open/NetBSD *are* Unix because the kernels in them share a
common origin in the BSD 4.4 Net tape, which itself originated as
modifications of ATT System 7 and System V source code licensed to UCB
(the history is far more convoluted, but you get the picture).
[1]
> From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
> Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
> Subject: What would you like to see most in minix?
> Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
>
>
> Hello everybody out there using minix -
>
> I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and
> professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing
> since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on
> things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat
> (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons)
> among other things).
>
> I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.
> This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and
> I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions
> are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)
>
> Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
>
> PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
> It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
> will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.
--
Alejandro López-Valencia
http://dradul.tripod.com/
The limits of my language are the limits of my world.
(L. Wittgenstein)
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