GNU - Wikipedia · Qortora

GNU - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 Name 2 History 3 Components 4 GNU as an operating system Toggle GNU as an operating system subsection 4.1 Non-GNU kernels 5 GNU/Linux naming controversy 6 Logo 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Toggle the table of contents GNU 75 languages Afrikaans العربية Azərbaycanca Български বাংলা Bosanski Català کوردی Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Esperanto Español Eesti Euskara فارسی Suomi Français Frysk Galego עברית हिन्दी Hrvatski Magyar Bahasa Indonesia Ilokano Íslenska Italiano 日本語 La .lojban. ಕನ್ನಡ 한국어 Kurdî Кыргызча Latina Lombard Lietuvių Latviešu Олык марий Македонски മലയാളം Bahasa Melayu Nederlands Norsk bokmål Polski Português Română Русский Sardu Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Shqip Српски / srpski Svenska தமிழ் తెలుగు ไทย Tagalog Türkçe Татарча / tatarça ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche Українська اردو Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Vèneto Tiếng Việt Winaray 吴语 ייִדיש 閩南語 / Bân-lâm-gí 粵語中文 Edit links Article Talk English Read Edit View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read Edit View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Abstract Wikipedia Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Free software collection This article is about the free software collection. For the animal, see Wildebeest. For other uses, see GNU (disambiguation). Not to be confused with XNU. "},"userland":{"wt":"GNU"},"kernel_type":{"wt":"[[Microkernel]] ([[GNU Hurd]]) or [[Monolithic kernel]] (GNU [[Linux-libre]], fork of [[Linux kernel|Linux]])"},"license":{"wt":"[[GNU General Public License|GNU GPL]], [[GNU Lesser General Public License|GNU LGPL]], [[GNU Affero General Public License|GNU AGPL]], [[GNU Free Documentation License|GNU FDL]], [[GNU Project#GNU Free System Distribution Guidelines|GNU FSDG]]<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.gnu.org/licenses/ |title = GNU Licenses}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.gnu.org/distros/free-system-distribution-guidelines.html |title = GNU FSDG}}</ref>"},"programmed in":{"wt":"Various languages (notably [[C (programming language)|C]] and [[assembly language]])"},"working_state":{"wt":"Current"},"supported_platforms":{"wt":"[[DEC Alpha|Alpha]], [[Synopsys ARC|ARC]], [[ARM architecture family|ARM]], [[AVR32]], [[Blackfin]], [[C6x]], [[ETRAX CRIS]], [[FR-V]], [[H8/300]], [[IA-32]]/[[x86-64]], [[Qualcomm Hexagon|Hexagon]], [[Itanium]], [[M32R]], [[m68k]], [[Imagination META|META]], [[MicroBlaze]], [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]], [[MN103]], [[OpenRISC]], [[PA-RISC]], [[PowerPC]], [[ESA/390|s390]]/[[z/Architecture|s390x]], [[S+core]], [[SuperH]], [[SPARC]], [[TILE64]], [[Unicore32]], [[Xtensa]], [[RISC-V]]  (with [[Linux-libre]] kernel only)"}},"i":0}}]}'>Operating system GNU Debian GNU/Hurd with Xfce4 and web browser Midori Developer Community Written in Various languages (notably C and assembly language) OS family Unix-like Working state Current Source model Free software Marketing target Personal computers, mobile devices, embedded devices, servers, mainframes, supercomputers Supported platforms Alpha, ARC, ARM, AVR32, Blackfin, C6x, ETRAX CRIS, FR-V, H8/300, IA-32/x86-64, Hexagon, Itanium, M32R, m68k, META, MicroBlaze, MIPS, MN103, OpenRISC, PA-RISC, PowerPC, s390/s390x, S+core, SuperH, SPARC, TILE64, Unicore32, Xtensa, RISC-V (with Linux-libre kernel only) Kernel type Microkernel (GNU Hurd) or Monolithic kernel (GNU Linux-libre, fork of Linux) Userland GNU License GNU GPL, GNU LGPL, GNU AGPL, GNU FDL, GNU FSDG[1][2] Official website gnu.org GNU (/ɡnuː/ ⓘ GNOO)[3][4] is an extensive collection of free software (387 packages as of June 2025[update]),[5] which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems.[6][7][8] Most of GNU is licensed under the GNU Project's own General Public License (GPL). Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project GNU is also the project within which the free software concept originated. Richard Stallman, the founder of the project, views GNU as a "technical means to a social end".[9] Relatedly, Lawrence Lessig states in his introduction to the second edition of Stallman's book Free Software, Free Society that in it Stallman has written about "the social aspects of software and how Free Software can create community and social justice".[10] Name [edit] GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix!",[6][11] chosen because GNU's design is Unix-like, but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix code.[6][12][13] Stallman chose the name by using various plays on words, including the song "The Gnu".[4]: 45:30 History [edit] Before the 1980s there existed a widespread practice of sharing software in ways similar to what is now considered free software where the participants are free to share copies of the software. Richard Stallman was a part of a group of developers at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory working on the Incompatible Timesharing System, an operating system which was effectively developed as what is now seen as free software.[14][15] This community soon fell to ruin, however, as the PDP-10 platform which the operating system was developed for was discontinued. According to Stallman, what prompted him to start the GNU Project was having previously had an experience with Xerox refusing to give him access to the source code of a laser printer used at the MIT Lab, now with the realization that this community of sharing software would end and noticing the advancing spread of proprietary software which had undone the culture of sharing software that had previously existed, Richard Stallman refused to adapt by continuing with proprietary software, and he instead decided that with this skills as an operating systems programmer,[15] he would begin the development of a new free software operating system and to recreate a community of sharing software that was lost, called GNU.[14][15] Development of the GNU software was initiated by Richard Stallman while he worked at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. It was called the GNU Project, and was publicly announced on September 27, 1983, on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft newsgroups by Stallman.[16] Software development began on January 5, 1984, when Stallman quit his job at the Lab so that they could not claim ownership or interfere with distributing GNU components as free software.[17] The goal was to bring a completely free software operating system into existence. Stallman wanted computer users to be free to study the source code of the software they use, share software with other people, modify the behavior of software, and publish their modified versions of the software. This philosophy was published as the GNU Manifesto in March 1985.[18] Richard Stallman's experience with the Incompatible Timesharing System (ITS),[17] an early operating system written in assembly language that became obsolete due to discontinuation of PDP-10, the computer architecture for which ITS was written, led to a decision that a portable system was necessary.[4]: 40:52 [19] It was thus decided that the development would be started using C and Lisp as system programming languages,[20] and that GNU would be compatible with Unix.[21] At the time, Unix was already a popular proprietary operating system. The design of Unix was modular, so it could be reimplemented piece by piece.[19] Much of the needed software had to be written from scratch, but existing compatible third-party free software components were also used such as the TeX typesetting system, the X Window System, and the Mach microkernel that forms the basis of the GNU Mach core of GNU Hurd (the official kernel of GNU).[22] With the exception of the aforementioned third-party components, most of GNU has been written by volunteers; some in their spare time, some paid by companies,[23] educational institutions, and other non-profit organizations. In October 1985, Stallman set up the Free Software Foundation (FSF). In the late 1980s and 1990s, the FSF hired software developers to write the software needed for GNU.[24][25] As GNU gained prominence, interested businesses began contributing to development or selling GNU software and technical support. The most prominent and successful of these was Cygnus Solutions,[23] now part of Red Hat.[26] Components [edit] Main article: List of GNU packages The system's basic components include the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), the GNU C library (glibc), and GNU Core Utilities (coreutils),[6] but also the GNU Debugger (GDB), GNU Binary Utilities (binutils),[27] and the GNU Bash shell.[22][28][29] GNU developers have contributed to Linux ports of GNU applications and utilities, which are now also widely used on other operating systems such as BSD variants, Solaris and macOS.[30][better source needed] Many GNU programs have been ported to other operating systems, including proprietary platforms such as Microsoft Windows[31] and macOS.[32] GNU programs have been shown to be more reliable than their proprietary Unix counterparts.[33][34] As of June 2024[update], there are a total of 467 GNU packages (including decommissioned, 394 excluding) hosted on the official GNU development site.[35] GNU as an operating system [edit] Main article: GNU variants The original kernel of GNU Project is the GNU Hurd (together with the GNU Mach microkernel), which was the original focus of the Free Software Foundation (FSF).[6][36][37][38] With the April 30, 2015 release of the Debian GNU/Hurd 2015 distribution,[39][40] GNU now provides all required components to assemble an operating system that users can install and use on a computer.[41][42][43] However, the Hurd kernel is not yet considered production-ready but rather a base for further development and non-critical application usage.[44][41] Non-GNU kernels [edit] Parabola GNU/Linux-libre, an example of an FSF approved distribution that uses a rolling release model Trisquel, an example of an FSF approved distribution Because of the development status of Hurd, GNU is usually paired with other kernels such as Linux[45][46] or FreeBSD.[47] A stable version (or variant) of GNU can be run by combining the GNU packages with the Linux kernel, making a functional Unix-like system. The GNU Project calls this GNU/Linux, and the defining features are the combination of: GNU packages[48][49] (except for GNU Hurd) The GNU packages consist of numerous operating system tools and utilities (shell, coreutils, compilers, libraries, etc.)[48][49] including a library implementation of all of the functions specified in POSIX System Application Program Interface (POSIX.1).[50][51] The GCC compiler can generate machine-code for a large variety of computer-architectures.[52] Linux kernel – this implements program scheduling, multitasking, device drivers, memory management, etc. and allows the system to run on a large variety of computer-architectures.[53] Linus Torvalds released the Linux kernel under the GNU General Public License in 1992;[54] it is however not part of the GNU Project.[55][56][57][58] non-GNU progra…