Re: environ and -D_GNU_SOURCE

[Wolfgang Sourdeau <wolfgang at iNsu dot com>]

>>>>> On Thu, 18 May 2000 18:29:46 +0200, Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@suse.de> said:

    >> Take Linux, sysvinit, bash, glibc, gcc, gdb, emacs, the gnu binutils,
    Thorsten> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    Thorsten> Linux is GPL, not GNU. sysvinit is GPL, not GNU, ...
    Thorsten> I don't know of any GNU init programm.

That 's what I said. Linux, sysvinit, and maybe XFree are the only
non-GNU part required to set up a complete GNU system.

    >> the gnu fileutils, the gnu netutils and you have a complete system made
    Thorsten> ^^^^^^^^^^^^
    Thorsten> This is BSD, it isn't even under GPL. And no Linux distribution uses it.

Sorry, I was meaning the sh-utils.
 
    Thorsten> No. I only see how less programs installed on my computer are
    Thorsten> really from a GNU project. I don't speak about GPL, I mean GNU software.

Well. Let's take it differently.
Let A be what you call a "Linux system".
Let B be what the FSF decided their system to be, a complete free
UNIX-like OS (with compiler, text editor, text processor, and the rest).

A and B contain the same components, whether GPL or not, whether coming
from GNU or from BSD doesn't matter.

A is B with Linux for kernel. Therefore A is a Linux-based GNU system.

It doesn't matter whether the GNU system is made entirely from the GNU projects
or not. TeX is not a GNU project, but it's still part of the GNU
System because RMS wanted his system to include TeX. Same thing for X, etc.
All RMS wanted for his system is that each component be free,
preferably but not mandatorily under the GNU GPL. (see gzip for
example, which is not even under the GNU LGPL although it's called
"GNU Zip")

The GNU system and the GNU components (AKA "GNU Projects") are two
different concepts.

Why would the FSF reinvent the wheel after all. When then can have free
components coming from other project with a free licence, and that
those components meet their requirements of useability (under
GNU/Linux, we use Bash instead of SH because it's better) , they
include them in their system.

Same thing for the Linux kernel. They needed a free kernel to obtain a
complete system and so they decided Linux could be one of the system's
components even if it was not a GNU Project. So was born the GNU/Linux
system. At least they have decided to give special credit to the Linux
kernel...


Wolfgang