Omar Shuja Siddiqui <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > i want to know where can i find the source code for > basic linux excluding graphics and x-windows. [...] > is the kernel the main part of the linux?? [...]
Linux is a kernel; nothing more (IMHO you could say that some tools, which are interacting with the Linux kernel, e.g. the modutils, also belong the the Linux kernel?). The OS you are running is ``GNU'', with Linux as the kernel. See http://www.gnu.org/ for more information about GNU. I quote: The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system. (GNU is a recursive acronym for ``GNU's Not Unix''.) Variants of the GNU operating system, which use the kernel Linux, are now widely used; though these systems are often referred to as ``Linux'', they are more accurately called GNU/Linux systems. You see, the OS is a combination of ``GNU'' and ``Linux'', that's why it should be called ``GNU/Linux'' and not just ``Linux''. If you call it just Linux, you don't give any credits the people, who are developing GNU. It's nice and fair, that Debian is called ``Debian GNU/Linux'' and not just ``.... Linux''. BTW: The "real" kernel of the GNU Operating System is ``Hurd'' (http://hurd.gnu.org), which is under active development. I quote again: The GNU Hurd is the GNU project's replacement for the Unix kernel. The Hurd is a collection of servers that run on the Mach microkernel to implement file systems, network protocols, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels (such as Linux). So, a current "Linux distribution", consists of a lot of software. But, everyone uses a Linux based GNU system as the core. -moritz -- /* Moritz Schulte <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * http://hp9001.fh-bielefeld.de/~moritz/ * PGP-Key available, encrypted Mail is welcome. */
