Linux (also known as
GNU/Linux) is a Unix-like computer
operating system. It is one of the most prominent examples of open source
development and free software; unlike proprietary operating systems such as
Windows or Mac OS, all of its underlying source code is available to the general
public for anyone to use, modify, and redistribute freely.
Initially, Linux was primarily developed and used by individual enthusiasts
on personal computers. Since then, Linux has gained the support of major
corporations such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Novell for use
in servers and is gaining popularity in the desktop market[1].
It is used in systems ranging from supercomputers to mobile phones. Proponents
and analysts attribute its success to its security, reliability, low cost, and
freedom from vendor lock-in[2][3].
History
In 1983, Richard Stallman founded the GNU Project, with the goal of
developing a complete Unix-like operating system composed entirely of free
software. By the beginning of the 1990s, GNU had produced or collected most of
the necessary components of this system—libraries, compilers, text editors, a
Unix-like shell—except for the core component, the kernel. The GNU project began
developing a kernel, the Hurd, in 1990, based on the Mach microkernel, but the
development of this Mach-based design proved difficult and proceeded slowly.
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Linux Pronunciation
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Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, explains
how the word should be pronounced |
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Meanwhile, in 1991, another kernel was begun as a hobby by Finnish university
student Linus Torvalds while attending the University of Helsinki. Torvalds
originally used Minix on his own computer, a simplified Unix-like system written
by Andrew Tanenbaum for teaching operating system design. However, Tanenbaum did
not permit others to extend his operating system, leading Torvalds to create a
replacement for Minix.
Originally, Torvalds called his kernel "Freax" for "free" and "freak" and
with the often-used X in the names of Unix-like systems. The name "Linux" was
coined by Ari Lemmke, who administered an FTP server belonging to the Finnish
University Network; he invented the name Linux for the directory from
which Torvalds' project was first available for download.[4]
At first a computer running Minix was necessary in order to configure and
install Linux. Initial versions of Linux also required another operating system
to be present in order to boot from a hard disk, but soon there were independent
boot loaders such as LILO. The Linux system quickly surpassed Minix in
functionality; Torvalds and other early Linux kernel developers adapted their
work for the GNU components and user-space programs to create a complete, fully
functional, and free operating system.
Today, Torvalds continues to direct the development of the kernel, while
other subsystems such as the GNU components continue to be developed separately
(Linux kernel development is not part of the GNU Project). Other groups and
companies combine and distribute these components with additional application
software in the form of Linux distributions.
Portability
The Linux kernel was originally designed only for Intel 80386
microprocessors, but now supports a wide variety of computer architectures.
Linux is now one of the most widely ported operating systems, running on a
diverse range of systems from the hand-held ARM-based iPAQ to the mainframe IBM
System z9. Specialised distributions exist for less mainstream architectures.
Copyright licensing, and the Linux trademark
The Linux kernel and most GNU software are licensed under the GNU General
Public License. The GPL requires that all distributed source code modifications
and derived works also be licensed under the GPL, and is sometimes referred to
as a "share and share-alike" or "copyleft" license. In 1997, Linus Torvalds
stated, "Making Linux GPL'was definitely the best thing I ever did."[5]
Other software may use other licenses; many libraries use the GNU Lesser General
Public License (LGPL), a more permissive variant of the GPL, and the X Window
System uses the MIT License.
In the United States, the name Linux is a trademark[6]
registered to Linus Torvalds. In 1997, after another individual registered the
trademark and demanded royalty payments from Linux distributors, Torvalds and
some affected organizations sued to have the trademark assigned instead to
Torvalds. The licensing of the trademark is now handled by the Linux Mark
Institute. Torvalds has stated that he only trademarked the name to prevent
someone else from using it, but was bound in 2005 by United States trademark law
to take active measures to enforce the trademark. As a result, the LMI sent out
a number of letters to distribution vendors requesting that a fee be paid for
the use of the name, and a number of companies have complied.
Pronunciation
In 1992, Torvalds explained how he pronounces the word Linux:
"'li' is pronounced with a short [ee]
sound: compare prInt, mInImal etc. 'nux' is also short, non-diphthong, like in
pUt {IPA /ʊ/}. It's partly due to minix: linux was just my working name for the
thing, and as I wrote it to replace minix on my system, the result is what it
is... linus' minix became linux."
An audio file of Torvalds saying "Hello, this is Linus Torvalds, and I
pronounce Linux as Linux" can be found here. Note that in English,
"Linux" and "Minix" are usually pronounced with a short i (IPA: /ɪ/)
sound that is different from Torvalds' Finland-Swedish pronunciation of these
words.
Linux and the GNU Project
The goal of the GNU project is to produce a Unix-compatible operating system
consisting entirely of free software, and most general-purpose Linux
distributions rely on GNU libraries and tools written to that effect. The Free
Software Foundation views these Linux distributions as "variants" of the GNU
system, and asks that such operating systems be referred to as GNU/Linux
or a Linux-based GNU system. While some distributions make a point of
using the combined form - notably Debian GNU/Linux - its use outside of
the enthusiast community is limited, and Linus Torvalds has said that he finds
calling Linux in general GNU/Linux "just ridiculous". The distinction
between the Linux kernel and distributions based on it is a source of confusion
to many newcomers, and the naming remains controversial.
SCO Litigation
In March 2003, the SCO Group filed a lawsuit against IBM, claiming that IBM
had contributed portions of SCO's copyrighted code to the Linux kernel in
violation of IBM's license to use Unix. Additionally, SCO sent letters to a
number of companies warning that their use of Linux without a license from SCO
may be actionable, and claimed in the press that they would be suing individual
Linux users. This controversy has involved lawsuits by SCO against Novell,
DaimlerChrysler (dismissed in 2004), and AutoZone, and by Red Hat and others
against SCO.
As per the Utah District Court ruling on July 3,2006; 182 claims out of 294
claims made by SCO against IBM have been dismissed.[8]
To date, no proof of SCO's claims of copied code in Linux has been provided
and SCO's claims have varied widely.
Development efforts
More Than a Gigabuck: Estimating GNU/Linux's Size, a 2001 study of Red
Hat Linux 7.1, found that this distribution contained 30 million source lines of
code.[9] Using the Constructive Cost
Model, the study estimated that this distribution required about eight thousand
man-years of development time. According to the study, if all this software had
been developed by conventional proprietary means, it would have cost about 1.08
billion dollars (year 2000 U.S. dollars) to develop in the United States.
The majority of the code (71%) was written in the C programming language, but
many other languages were used, including C++, Lisp, assembly language, Perl,
Fortran, Python and various shell scripting languages. Slightly over half of all
lines of code were licensed under the GPL. The Linux kernel was 2.4 million
lines of code, or 8% of the total.
In a later study, Counting potatoes: The size of Debian 2.2, the same
analysis was performed for Debian GNU/Linux version 2.2.[10]
This distribution contained over fifty-five million source lines of code, and
the study estimated that it would have cost 1.9 billion dollars (year 2000 U.S.
dollars) to develop by conventional means.
Applications
Linux has historically been used mainly as a server operating system, but its
low cost, flexibility, and Unix background make it suitable for a wide range of
applications. Linux is the cornerstone of the "LAMP" server-software combination
(Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python) which has achieved popularity
among developers, and which is one of the more common platforms for website
hosting.
Due to its low cost and its high configurability, Linux is often used in
embedded systems such as television set-top boxes, mobile phones, and handheld
devices. Linux has become a major competitor to the proprietary Symbian OS found
in many mobile phones, and it is an alternative to the dominant Windows CE and
Palm OS operating systems on handheld devices. The popular TiVo digital video
recorder uses a customized version of Linux. Several network firewall and router
standalone products, including several from Linksys, use Linux internally, using
its advanced firewalling and routing capabilities.
Linux is increasingly common as an operating system for supercomputers. In
the November 2005 TOP500 list of supercomputers, the two fastest supercomputers
in the world ran Linux. Of the 500 systems, 371 (74.2%) ran some version of
Linux, including seven of the top ten.
The Sony PlayStation 3 video game console, to be launched in 2006, will run
Linux by default. Sony has previously released a PS2 Linux do-it-yourself kit
for their PlayStation 2 video game console. Game developers like Atari and id
Software have released titles to the Linux desktop.
The One Laptop Per Child project, which aims to provide computing devices to
all children in developing nations, uses Linux as the device's operating system.
Distributions
Linux is predominantly used as part of a Linux distribution (commonly called
a "distro"). These are compiled by individuals, loose-knit teams, and commercial
and volunteer organizations. They commonly include additional system and
application software, an installer system to ease initial system setup, and
integrated management of software installation and upgrading. Distributions are
created for many different purposes, including computer architecture support,
localization to a specific region or language, real-time applications, and
embedded systems, and many deliberately include only free software. Currently,
over three hundred distributions are actively developed, with about a dozen
distributions being most popular for general-purpose use.[11]
A typical general-purpose distribution includes the Linux kernel, some GNU
libraries and tools, command-line shells, the graphical X Window System and an
accompanying desktop environment such as KDE or GNOME, together with thousands
of application software packages, from office suites to compilers, text editors,
and scientific tools.
| Some Humorous Quotes on Linux |
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"Avoid the Gates of Hell. Use Linux
"
"being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by a large
family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you wake up, the house
is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret, or some walls have moved. Or
perhaps someone has temporarily removed the floor under your bed"
"Going from DOS to Linux is like trading a glider for an F117"
"linux: because a PC is a terrible thing to waste "
"linux: the choice of a GNU generation "
"Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. NO (or Linux) is the
answer"
"No. That's it. The cool name, that is. We worked very hard on creating a name
that would appeal to the majority of people, and it certainly paid off:
thousands of people are using linux just to be able to say "OS/2? Hah. I've got
Linux. What a cool name".
"The box said that I needed to have
Windows 98 or better... so I installed Linux"
"UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to
understand the simplicity" |
Desktop usage
The high level of access granted to Linux's internals has led to Linux users
traditionally tending to be more technologically oriented than users of
Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, sometimes revelling in the tag of "hacker" or
"geek". Linux and other free software projects have been frequently criticized
for not going far enough to ensure ease of use.
This stereotype has begun to be dispelled in recent years. Linux may now be
used with a user interface that is very similar to those running on other
operating systems. Users may have to switch application software, and there are
often fewer "known" options (as in the case of computer games) but there exist
replacements for all general-purpose software, and general applications like
spreadsheets, word processors, and browsers are available for Linux in
profusion. Additionally, a growing number of proprietary software vendors are
supporting Linux.[12]
Linux's roots in the Unix operating system mean that while graphical
configuration tools and control panels are available for many system settings
and services, plain-text configuration files are still commonly used to
configure the OS and may be exposed to users. In general, the command shell does
not protect against accidents like file deletion, and the user interfaces of
older programs are sometimes inconsistent.
The Berlin-based organization Relevantive concluded in 2003 that the
usability of Linux for a set of desktop-related tasks was "nearly equal to
Windows XP."[13] Since then, there
have been numerous independent studies and articles
[14] which indicate that a modern
Linux desktop using either GNOME or KDE is on par with Microsoft Windows in a
business setting.
Market share and uptake
According to the market research company IDC, 25% of servers and 2.8% of
desktop computers ran Linux as of 2002.[15]
The Linux market is rapidly growing and the revenue of servers, desktops, and
packaged software running Linux is expected to exceed $35.7 billion by 2008.[16]
It is important to note that this figure represents only paid Linux shipments;
since most Linux distributions are available for free download from the
internet, the actual installed base is higher than may be indicated by this
figure.
The paper Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the
Numbers![17] identifies many
quantitative studies of open source software, on topics including market share
and reliability, with many studies specifically examining Linux.
Installation
The most common method of installing Linux on a personal computer is by
booting from a CD-ROM that contains the installation program and installable
software. Such a CD can be burned from a downloaded ISO image, shipped for free
by request, purchased alone for a low price, or can be obtained as part of a box
set that may also include manuals and additional commercial software.
As with servers, personal computers that come with Linux already installed
are available from vendors including Hewlett-Packard and Dell, although
generally only for their business desktop line.
Alternatives to traditional desktop installation include thin client
installation, where the operating system is loaded and run from a centralised
machine over a network connection; and running from a Live CD, where the
computer boots the entire operating system from CD without first installing it
on the computer's hard disk.
On embedded devices, Linux is typically held in the device's firmware and may
or may not be consumer-accessible.
Programming on Linux
GCC is by far the most commonly used compiler family on Linux, providing
frontends for C, C++ and Java among others. Most distributions also come
installed with Perl, Python and other language interpreters, and several now
include C# via the Mono project.
There are a number of Integrated development environments available including
KDevelop, Anjuta, NetBeans, and Eclipse while the traditional editors Emacs and
Vim are also provided and remain popular.
As well as these free and open source options, there are proprietary
compilers and tools available from a range of companies such as Intel,[18]
PathScale[19] and the Portland Group.[20]
Support
Technical support is provided by commercial suppliers and by other Linux
users, usually in online forums, IRC, newsgroups, and mailing lists. Linux User
Groups have traditionally been organised to provide support for Linux in
specific cities and regions.
The business model of commercial suppliers is generally dependent on charging
for support, especially for business users. A number of companies offer a
specialized business version of their distribution which adds proprietary
support packages and tools to administer higher numbers of installations or to
simplify administrative tasks.
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