Post #194,116
2/11/05 8:12:16 AM
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newbie kernel question
I am not a programmer.
But I am curious: when is the Linux kernel no longer Linux? I mean, if someone says they have "heavily modified" the official Linux kernel, then is the result of that a different operating system? Or is it still Linux?
Thanks,
Tina
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Post #194,118
2/11/05 8:16:20 AM
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It's always "Linux"...
...until you remove the last line of original code.
This is a consequence of the GNU GPL licence that the kernel code is placed under.
Peter
[link|http://www.ubuntulinux.org|Ubuntu Linux]
[link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal]
[link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Home]
Use P2P for legitimate purposes!
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Post #194,121
2/11/05 8:31:19 AM
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Basically what peter said.
And those Modifications if distributed in Binary form, must also be available in source form.
That is another caveat, but it forces improvements to be returned/available to the core. Which makes you not have to have as heavily modified kernel in the future. Henceforth why the Linux kernel so rapidly evolves. This is also the benefit of the GNU GPL.
BTW, Thanks for joining, tell us about yourself. Welcome.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Miltary Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #194,464
2/13/05 7:19:36 PM
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Re: Basically what peter said.
Thanks for all the responses. I am one of those lowly tech journalists who occasionally hears something in an interview that causes me to question, investigate and maybe even write a story about my findings.
Tina
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Post #194,469
2/13/05 8:04:35 PM
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Is this you?
[link|http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tina+daunt&btnG=Google+Search|http://www.google.co...tnG=Google+Search]
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Post #194,474
2/13/05 8:34:56 PM
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Re: Is this you?
nope
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Post #194,477
2/13/05 8:45:04 PM
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Waitaminnit ... actual research?
Don't post your real name here. I hear checking your facts can cost you your press credentials some places. (No, I'm not cynical. :-/ )
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #194,500
2/14/05 12:06:13 AM
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Well you know where to go for background
I'm guessing that you're [link|http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Tina+Gasperson%22&btnG=Search|http://www.google.co...on%22&btnG=Search].
If you ever need people to fill you in on tech issues, feel free to ask here, or to contact some private people. You aren't the first tech journalist here, and you wouldn't be the first one to ask questions of IWETHEY people as well.
Cheers,
Ben
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #194,527
2/14/05 9:15:05 AM
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Pick a different name
While I might not have guessed, someone eventually will.
In your profession, it is a good idea NOT to leave a web footprint.
No way you can state an opinion without later on having your impartiality impugned.
Make sure name having nothing to do with you real name, your profession, or your hobbies.
And, welcome.
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Post #194,619
2/14/05 4:53:10 PM
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I didn't guess...
I googled for the user ID. The name was obvious from what I got back.
I second [link|/forums/render/user?username=broomberg|broomberg]'s advice. Incidentally the best-known journalist that we have here goes under a name that can't readily be tracked back to her real name. Of course everyone here knows who she is, and a good number of us know where the name comes from (a game she used to play with her daughter), but nobody is going to track it down with a trivial Google search.
Cheers,
Ben
I have come to believe that idealism without discipline is a quick road to disaster, while discipline without idealism is pointless. -- Aaron Ward (my brother)
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Post #195,461
2/18/05 10:20:52 PM
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I still play the game...
With my kids.
Glen
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Post #194,129
2/11/05 9:36:55 AM
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No exact point
But I am curious: when is the Linux kernel no longer Linux? I mean, if someone says they have "heavily modified" the official Linux kernel, then is the result of that a different operating system? Or is it still Linux? If it's modified from a Linux kernel, it will always remain a derivitive of Linux. At what point it is different enough that it should be considered a different OS is a very subjective question. I would say that it becomes a different OS when it meets one of the two following criteria: the API between the kernel and user space is distinctly different, and the core part of the kernel operates in a different way. Jay
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Post #194,167
2/11/05 12:03:00 PM
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One other thing to consider
is what their definition of "Heavily modified" is. Are they just recompiling the kernel with a completely different set of options (through 'make menuconfig') and maybe compiling in some hardware specific code (such as for an nVidia card), or are they actually replacing major parts of the base code?
~~~)-Steven----
"I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country..."
General George S. Patton
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Post #194,173
2/11/05 12:21:45 PM
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One other other thing to consider
The kernel is not the OS. [cue holy war] The OS is actually GNU, and if you are running what most people casually call Linux you are running the GNU operating system with a Linux kernel. What [link|http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html#why|should] be called "GNU/Linux".
If you want to be pedantic, that is.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #194,174
2/11/05 12:23:12 PM
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Re: What should [*] be called "GNU/Linux".
Oh, God. Man the barricades.
bcnu,
Mikem
Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer.
God Bless America.
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Post #194,198
2/11/05 1:45:17 PM
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Nobody around here, that *I* know of...
Is Pedantic.
There are only those of us that; Condone Implicit Stupidity.
:)
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Miltary Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #194,267
2/11/05 5:55:03 PM
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I know you did that on purpose, but ...
That's implicitly condoning stupidity.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #194,348
2/12/05 11:08:39 AM
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Oh... so you *DID* bite!
Bahahaha.
You are *SO* predictable.
Thanks for the laugh. I needed that this morn.
-- [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg], [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ iwethey[link|http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134485&cid=11233230|"Microsoft Security" is an even better oxymoron than "Miltary Intelligence"] No matter how much Microsoft supporters whine about how Linux and other operating systems have just as many bugs as their operating systems do, the bottom line is that the serious, gut-wrenching problems happen on Windows, not on Linux, not on Mac OS. -- [link|http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1622086,00.asp|source]
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Post #194,370
2/12/05 2:33:21 PM
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Predictability is comforting
For instance: - I predict you will get the bottomless fries at Red Robin, then spend the entire first night and half the next day at Beep's playing console games in the basement.
Just remember to come up long enough to announce to the world that there's no way you're going in the pool, then plop yourself down like Bhudda in the shade and make them try.
- I predict I will nod off in the car/van and you will thinks it's absolutely hysterical to tap the brakes and watch me lurch upright.
- I predict Scott will load up Zope and at least three people will huddle around reading LRPD cannon for an hour ... until they realize there's a damn party going on outside.
===
Purveyor of Doc Hope's [link|http://DocHope.com|fresh-baked dog biscuits and pet treats].
[link|http://DocHope.com|http://DocHope.com]
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Post #194,304
2/11/05 10:56:03 PM
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If you write a kernel without using any linux code at all
and without using any GPL libraries you may have a new OS. Until then you have a linux distro. Say you modified linux so it is only a firewall and nothing else, then wrote new code to make this the most wonderful firewall ever, its still gnu/linux, your particular distro.
regards and welcome,
daemon
I love her dearly, far beyond any creature I've ever known, and I can prove it, for never once in almost seventy years of married life have I taken her by the throat. Mind you, it's been a near thing once or twice.
George Macdonald Frasier
Clearwater highschool marching band [link|http://www.chstornadoband.org/|http://www.chstornadoband.org/]
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