page_title: GNU/Linux naming controversy
section_title: Opinions supporting "GNU/Linux"
hierarchical_section_title: GNU/Linux naming controversy / Opinions supporting "GNU/Linux"
caption_attribution_description: English: Auto-cropped transparent en:PNG version of en:Image:Gnu-and-penguin-color-300x276.jpg Cleaned up with the en:GIMP by Guanaco. FSF image of GNU and Linux penguin, from The GNU web site, entitled: The Dynamic Duo: The Gnu and the Penguin in flight. From the above web page: This image is Copyright (C) 1999, Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts and with no Back-Cover Texts. en:is:Mynd:GNU-Linux.png Português: Versão pt:PNG auto-cortada e transparente de en:Image:Gnu-and-penguin-color-300x276.jpg Limpa com o pt:GIMP por Guanaco. Imagem da FSF do GNU e pinguim do Linux, do Sítio GNU, intitulado: A Dupla Dinâmica: O Gnu e o Penguin em voo. Da página na internet acima: Esta imagem é Copyright (C) 1999, Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permissão dada para copiar, distribuir e/ou modificar esta imagem sob os termos da licença GNU Free Documentation, Versão 1.1 ou qualquer versão posterior publicada pela Free Software Foundation; sem a Invariant Sections, sem a Front-Cover Texts e sem Back-Cover Texts. en:is:Mynd:GNU-Linux.png
context_page_description: The GNU/Linux naming controversy is a dispute between members of the free software community and the open-source software community over whether to refer to computer operating systems using a combination of GNU software and the Linux kernel as "GNU/Linux" or "Linux".
  Proponents of the term Linux argue that it is far more commonly used by the public and media and that it serves as a generic term for systems that combine that kernel with software from multiple other sources, while proponents of the term GNU/Linux note that GNU alone would be just as good a name for GNU variants which combine the GNU operating system software with software from other sources.
  GNU/Linux is a term promoted by the Free Software Foundation and its founder Richard Stallman. Their reasoning is that the GNU project was the main contributor for not only many of the operating system components used in the subsequent development of modern "Linux" systems, but also the associated free software philosophy.
  Several distributions of operating systems containing the Linux kernel use the name that the FSF prefers, such as Debian, Trisquel and Parabola GNU/Linux-libre.
context_section_description: The FSF justifies the name "GNU/Linux" primarily on the grounds that the GNU project was specifically developing a complete system, of which they argue that the Linux kernel filled one of the final gaps; the large number of GNU components and GNU source code used in such systems is a secondary argument:
   So if you were going to pick a name for the system based on who wrote the programs in the system, the most appropriate single choice would be GNU. But we don't think that is the right way to consider the question. The GNU Project was not, is not, a project to develop specific software packages. [...] Many people have made major contributions to the free software in the system, and they all deserve credit. But the reason it is an integrated system—and not just a collection of useful programs—is because the GNU Project set out to make it one. We made a list of the programs needed to make a complete free system, and we systematically wrote, or found people to write, everything on the list.
  — Richard Stallman
  Other arguments include that the name "GNU/Linux" recognizes the role that the free-software movement played in building modern free and open source software communities, that the GNU project played a larger role in developing packages and software for GNU/Linux or Linux distributions, and that using the word "Linux" to refer to the Linux kernel, the operating system and entire distributions of software leads to confusion on the differences about the three. Because of this confusion, legal threats and public relations campaigns apparently directed against the kernel, such as those launched by the SCO Group or the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI), have been misinterpreted by many commentators who assume that the whole operating system is being targeted. SCO and the AdTI have even been accused of deliberately exploiting this confusion.
  Regarding suggestions that renaming efforts stem from egotism or personal pique, Stallman has responded that his interest is not in giving credit to himself but to the GNU Project: "Some people think that it's because I want my ego to be fed. Of course, I'm not asking you to call it 'Stallmanix'."  In response to another common suggestion that many people have contributed to the system and that a short name cannot credit all of them, the FSF has argued that this cannot justify calling the system "Linux", since they believe that the GNU project's contribution was ultimately greater than that of the Linux kernel in these related systems.
  In 2010, Stallman stated that naming is not simply a matter of giving equal mention to the GNU Project, saying that because the system is more widely referred as "Linux", people tend to "think it's all Linux, that it was all started by Mr. Torvalds in 1991, and they think it all comes from his vision of life, and that's the really bad problem."
caption: FSF artwork of the gnu (GNU mascot) and the penguin Tux (mascot of the Linux kernel) representing their viewpoint on "GNU/Linux". The GNU General Public License (GPL), which is used by the Linux kernel as well as by most GNU software, armors both characters.
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