Why Linux is portrayed as a Penguin?
this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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It's not unusual to see people talking about android users being Linux users "because android is Linux too" clearly not understanding the difference between Linux the OS, i.e. GNU/Linux, and Linux the kernel. So it's useful when you have to make such a distinction.
Exactly. When I say I want a Linux phone all I get are Android options. What I want is a GNU/Linux phone that I can run full Linux distros on.
Alpine or PostmarketOS works for older stuff. Some others will run Ubuntu as well.
Instead of "Linux on [phone]" try using Debian/Ubuntu or one of the mobile-targeting distros as a keyword
Alpine is also arguably not "GNU/Linux", as it doesn't use GNU Core Utils or glibc. But I don't know anyone who would suggest that Alpine isn't "proper Linux".
You are totally confused. In words of R. Stallman:
"The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linux is normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: the whole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All the so-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux".
"Today there are many different variants of the GNU/Linux system (often called “distros”). Most of them include nonfree programs".
https://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html
I recently found myself forced to give a shit, when one of our projects started doing weird shit after switching to an Alpine-based docker image.
Can you elaborate? I'm aware alpine uses non-GNU stuff like musl & busybox. But overall, they're not too far off.
Here's one https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65181012/does-alpine-have-known-dns-issue-within-kubernetes
It was a dependency resolution issue. Npm couldn't install one of the packages without some package.json gymnastics, and those same gymnastics somehow fucked with our debian based images that we use for development. I can't say much more because I honestly don't know what exactly happened. I just diagnosed the issue and forwarded it to our resident node guru, who took it from there.