[W/K] :: Linux

  Linux
       n : an open-source version of the UNIX operating system

  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).
  
  

  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).
       
          http://www.linuxhq.com/).html">LinuxHQ (http://www.linuxhq.com/).  slashdot
          (http://slashdot.org/).  http://freshmeat.net/).html">freshmeat (http://freshmeat.net/).
          http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/).html">Woven Goods (http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux/).  Linux
          Gazette (http://www.ssc.com/lg).
       
          ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/Linux).html">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)