Public Domain Python

[jurgen.defurne at philips.com]

tjreedy at udel.edu@SMTP at python.org on 14/09/2000 03:10:49
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[discussion of fame for contributions]

> > which-is-why-richard-stallman-insists-we-call-'linux'
> >    -'the-gnu/linux-system'-<<fat chance>>-ly y'rs,

His point is that a larger fraction of gnu-linux, as usually distributed,
come from the gnu project (gcc, etc, etc) than from Linus and the rest of
the Linux team.

> Well, he can insist all he likes.  Stallman is to be admired for many
> things, including his long-term promotion if the free software ideal
> which has indirectly led to a hiuge amount of open-source software
> becoming (pretty) freely available.  I suspect he's being unrealistic
> in that insistence.

Agreed.  Best Buy now sells about 5 boxed (gnu/)linux distributions.  As I
remember, all just called it Linux, so I think the the naming of the system
after the kernal is a done deal.

And recognition of the same will only push FSF and crew to finish the Gnu
kernal, if they can, so they can distribute GnuOS as such and get proper
credit for what they have done.

> At the same time, I think most people involved with Linux are aware
> that Stallman's (and the FSF's) contributions have been large.

Probably true for most participants, but I was not so aware until I read
RS's claim quoted above.

Terry J. Reedy


I would like to add the following. There are people around with big names who don't believe in Free Software (a
sneer in the direction of Bertrand Meyer (unfortunately, cause I like his book about object-oriented programming)
(and then, why can Eiffel be obtained free) (it is really that I find that acting as guest speaker for M$ smells like
selling out) :-)), but it is because of GNU that Linus could create Linux.

In an interview with him (and I think that it was in Linux Journal (everyone who uses Python should read LJ!), he
said that in his first attempts, he used Borland, but that he wasn't satisfied with them. Which year was that? 1990,
1991, 1992 ? I remember well around the summer of 1991 that I was looking for a C compiler with 32-bit support, and that
it would amount to around $2000. Then came Zortech, which for $300 delivered all I needed then. But, even
if one wanted to write an OS with it, you would need an assembler. You could buy M$ MASM, or you could
by Watcom, which included a MASM compatible assembler. If I had known about GNU and FSF then, I
probably would have made an effort to get those tools (although I probably would have needed a Un*x to
run them on).

So, the really first hurdle was taken by means of the FSF tools, which provided all that was needed to write an OS.
Of course, they were written in the first place to produce an operating system, while all other commercial tools
were written to produce applications.

Jurgen