Incorrect Quotation

by Richard Stallman

A quotation circulates on the Internet, attributed to me, but itwasn't written by me.

Here's the text that is circulating. Most of it was copied fromstatements I have made, but the part italicized here is not from me.It makes points that are mistaken or confused.

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring toas Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to callingit, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating systemuntoitself, but ratheranother free component of a fullyfunctioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shellutilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as definedby POSIX.Many computer users run a modified version of the GNUsystem every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn ofevents, the version of GNU which is widely used today is often called“Linux,” and many of its users are not aware that it isbasically the GNU system, developed by the GNU Project. There reallyis a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part ofthe system they use.

Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates themachine's resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel isan essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; itcan only function in the context of a complete operating system. Linuxis normally used in combination with the GNU operating system: thewhole system is basically GNU with Linux added, or GNU/Linux. All theso-called “Linux” distributions are really distributions ofGNU/Linux.

The main error is that Linux isnotstrictly speaking part ofthe GNU system—whose kernel is GNU Hurd. The version with Linux,we call “GNU/Linux.” It is OK to call it “GNU”when you want to be really short, but it is better to call it“GNU/Linux” so as to give Torvalds some credit.

We don't use the term “corelibs,” and I am not surewhat that would mean, but GNU is much more than the specific packageswe developed for it. I set out in 1983 to develop an operatingsystem, calling it GNU, and that job required developing whicheverimportant packages we could not find elsewhere.

SeeLinux and GNUandGNU/Linux FAQ, plus the historyinThe GNU Project.