Stallman at UBC

Last night I went to hear Richard Stallman talk at UBC. He is the creator of the GNU set of programs and he started the Free Software Foundation. I'm familiar with Linux and while I knew that Linux is actually GNU/Linux I learned exactly what this distinction means. It is not so much about credit but about rights and freedoms so I'm going to try and explain it.

First off, the english language uses the word free to explain several different ideas. Two ways of being free are 1) free as in gratis as in it doesn't cost you anything and 2) free as in libre as in your freedom to do things. While both GNU and Linux are gratis, GNU is the portion focussed directly on libre. I'm a fan of libre, I want to be able to have the freedom to change things. I don't want to have hidden layers in my computer that me, or someone like me but with real computer skills, couldn't access (like the NSA backdoor into windows).

So what's the difference between GNU and Linux and how do they pair up to make GNU/Linux? From the FSF FAQ:

An operating system, as we use the term, means a collection of programs that are sufficient to use the computer to do a wide variety of jobs. [The GNU portion]...

The kernel [the Linux kernel] is one of the programs in an operating system—the program that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that are running. The kernel also takes care of starting and stopping other programs.

The Linux kernel has some hidden portions - hardware manufacturers who don't want to release their code. These are the Binary Blobs. There is also contention in the free (as in libre) software community that Linus Torvalds (who wrote and heads Linux) has a more pragmatic approach to software that results in the loss of certain libre's.

Also, open source means that you have the freedom to look at the code (unlike proprietary code like Windows) but it doesn't mean you have other freedoms - like the freedom to modify or share.

On the whole, the evening was interesting but I don't know how much it will change my typing out the word Linux. GNU/Linux. Gratis and Libre: writing out GNU/Linux acknowledges the difference but man couldn't Stallman have come up with better names.

For the record, straight from the horses mouth it's pronounced Guh-New.