- cross-posted to:
- programming@lemmy.ml
- linux@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- programming@lemmy.ml
- linux@lemmy.ml
Seriously stop polluting my $HOME!
.pki .mozilla .java .gnupg .emacs.d .cargo .thunderbird .steam
dotfiles and their consequences were a disaster for the penguin race.
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This is a very petty issue but I'm still PISSED. 
TL;DR because free software is so transformative and diverse, simply calling the whole system "Linux" is inaccurate. Linux is the name of the operating system kernel. but the kernel itself isn't an operating system and is quite useless by itself as all it does is be the gate between the hardware and the software of a computer (putting it simply).
A lot of people don't know about the GNU Project and how its mission was to create a completely free operating system while the rest of the tech world was being gobbled up by the capitalist ruling class through licenses and patents in the 80s and early 90s. Calling the operating system GNU/Linux helps shed a light on that history.
Conversationally, people know what you mean when you say Linux, but in writing the term Linux can be very ambiguous. Android uses the Linux kernel, but calling it a Linux system akin to Ubuntu or Fedora is an apples and oranges comparison.