[1] : WordNet (r) 2.0

linux
     n : an open-source version of the unix operating system

[2] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

linux /lee'nuhks/ or /li'nuks/, _not_ /li:'nuhks/ n. the free unix
   workalike created by linus torvalds and friends starting about 1991. the
   pronunciation /li'nuhks/ is preferred because the name `linus' has an
   /ee/ sound in swedish linus's family is part of finland's 6
   ethnic-swedish minority and linus considers english short /i/ to be
   closer to /ee/ than english long /i:/. this may be the most remarkable
   hacker project in history -- an entire clone of unix for 386, 486 and
   pentium micros, distributed for free with sources over the net ports to
   alpha and sparc and many other machines are also in use.

   linux is what gnu aimed to be, and it relies on the gnu toolset. but
   the free software foundation didn't produce the kernel to go with that
   toolset until 1999, which was too late. other, similar efforts like
   freebsd and netbsd have been technically successful but never caught
   fire the way linux has; as this is written in 2001, linux is seriously
   challenging microsoft's os dominance. it has already captured 31 of the
   internet-server market and 25 of general business servers.

   an earlier version of this entry opined "the secret of linux's success
   seems to be that linus worked much harder early on to keep the
   development process open and recruit other hackers, creating a snowball
   effect." truer than we knew. see bazaar.

   some people object that the name `linux' should be used to refer only
   to the kernel, not the entire operating system. this claim is a proxy
   for an underlying territorial dispute; people who insist on the term
   `gnu/linux' want the fsf to get most of the credit for linux because
   rms and friends wrote many of its user-level tools. neither this theory
   nor the term `gnu/linux' has gained more than minority acceptance.


see also:
gnu bazaar fsf 

[3] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

linux
     
         "linus unix" /li'nuks/ but see below
        an implementation of the unix kernel originally written
        from scratch with no proprietary code.
     
        the kernel runs on intel and alpha hardware in the general
        release, with sparc, powerpc, mips, arm, amiga,
        atari, and sgi in active development.  the sparc, powerpc,
        arm, powermac - osf, and 68k ports all support shells,
        x and networking.  the intel and sparc versions have
        reliable symmetric multiprocessing.
     
        work on the kernel is coordinated by linus torvalds, who holds
        the copyright on a large part of it.  the rest of the
        copyright is held by a large number of other contributors or
        their employers.  regardless of the copyright ownerships, the
        kernel as a whole is available under the gnu general public
        license.  the gnu project supports linux as its kernel until
        the research hurd kernel is completed.
     
        this kernel would be no use without application programs.
        the gnu project has provided large numbers of quality tools,
        and together with other public domain software it is a rich
        unix environment.  a compilation of the linux kernel and these
        tools is known as a linux distribution.  compatibility modules
        and/or emulators exist for dozens of other computing
        environments.
     
        the kernel version numbers are significant: the odd numbered
        series e.g. 1.3.xx is the development or beta kernel which
        evolves very quickly.  stable or release kernels have even
        major version numbers e.g. 1.2.xx.
     
        there is a lot of commercial support for and use of linux,
        both by hardware companies such as digital, ibm, and
        apple and numerous smaller network and integration
        specialists.  there are many commercially supported
        distributions which are generally entirely under the gpl.  at
        least one distribution vendor guarantees posix compliance.
        linux is particularly popular for internet service
        providers, and there are ports to both parallel
        supercomputers and embedded microcontrollers.  debian is
        one popular open source distribution.
     
        the pronunciation of "linux" has been a matter of much debate.
        many, including torvalds, insist on the short i pronunciation
        /li'nuks/ because "linus" has an /ee/ sound in swedish
        linus's family is part of finland's 6 ethnic-swedish
        minority and linus considers english short /i/ to be closer
        to /ee/ than english long /i:/ dipthong.  this is consistent
        with the short i in words like "linen".  this doesn't stop
        others demanding a long i /li:'nuks/ following the english
        pronunciation of "linus" and "minus".  others say /li'niks/
        following minix, which torvalds was working on before linux.
     
        more on pronunciation
        http://www.foldoc.org/pub/linux-pronunciation.
     
        linuxhq http://www.linuxhq.com/.  slashdot
        http://slashdot.org/.  freshmeat http://freshmeat.net/.
        woven goods http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/.  linux
        gazette http://www.ssc.com/lg.
     
        funet linux archive ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/linux, us
        mirror ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/linux/, uk mirror
        ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/linux/.
     
        2000-06-09
     
     
see also:
unix kernel intel alpha sparc powerpc 
mips arm amiga atari sgi 
powermac osf shells x networking 
symmetric multiprocessing gnu general public license hurd application programs 
public domain emulators digital ibm apple 
posix internet service providers embedded microcontrollers debian 
open source minix lt;more on pronunciationgt; lt;linuxhqgt; lt;slashdotgt; lt;freshmeatgt; lt;woven goodsgt; lt;linux gazettegt; lt;funet linux archivegt; lt;us mirrorgt; lt;uk mirrorgt; 

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