Das GNU Projekt

Das GNU Projekt wurde 1983 gestartet, um ein vollständig freies Unix-artiges Betriebssystem zu entwickeln - das GNU System. Varianten des GNU Systems, die den Linux Kernel verwenden, sind weit verbreitet; obwohl diese System oft als „Linux“ bezeichnet werden, werden sie korrekter als GNU/Linux Systeme bezeichnet.

Richard Stallman kündigte den Start des Projektes durch folgenden Text in den Newsgroup net.unix-wizards und net.usoft an:

From CSvax:pur-ee:inuxc!ixn5c!ihnp4!houxm!mhuxi!eagle!mit-vax!mit-eddie!RMS@MIT-OZ From: RMS%MIT-OZ@mit-eddie Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards,net.usoft Subject: new UNIX implementation Date: Tue, 27-Sep-83 12:35:59 EST Organization: MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA Free Unix! Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix), and give it away free to everyone who can use it. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly needed. To begin with, GNU will be a kernel plus all the utilities needed to write and run C programs: editor, shell, C compiler, linker, assembler, and a few other things. After this we will add a text formatter, a YACC, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other things. We hope to supply, eventually, everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and anything else useful, including on-line and hardcopy documentation. GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to Unix. We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our experience with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to have longer filenames, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, filename completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C and Lisp will be available as system programming languages. We will have network software based on MIT's chaosnet protocol, far superior to UUCP. We may also have something compatible with UUCP. Who Am I? I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original much-imitated EMACS editor, now at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. I have worked extensively on compilers, editors, debuggers, command interpreters, the Incompatible Timesharing System and the Lisp Machine operating system. I pioneered terminal-independent display support in ITS. In addition I have implemented one crashproof file system and two window systems for Lisp machines. Why I Must Write GNU I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it. I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software license agreement. So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles, I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to get along without any software that is not free. How You Can Contribute I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money. I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work. One computer manufacturer has already offered to provide a machine. But we could use more. One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU will run on them at an early date. The machine had better be able to operate in a residential area, and not require sophisticated cooling or power. Individual programmers can contribute by writing a compatible duplicate of some Unix utility and giving it to me. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would be very hard to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not work together. But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is absent. Most interface specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility. If each contribution works with the rest of Unix, it will probably work with the rest of GNU. If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or part time. The salary won't be high, but I'm looking for people for whom knowing they are helping humanity is as important as money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a living in another way. For more information, contact me. Arpanet mail: RMS@MIT-MC.ARPA Usenet: ...!mit-eddie!RMS@OZ ...!mit-vax!RMS@OZ US Snail: Richard Stallman 166 Prospect St Cambridge, MA 02139

Um die juristischen und organisatorischen Aspekte des GNU-Projektes zu betreuen sowie um die Verbreitung von und das Verständnis für Freie Software zu fördern, gründete sich die Free Software Foundation. Über die Free Software Foundation entstand die GNU General Public License (GPL) und die GNU Lesser General Public License ( LGPL, ursprünglich GNU Library General Public License genannt), die sich weltweit als die meistverwandten Lizenzen für Freie Software etablieren konnten.

Neben der GPL gibt es noch etliche andere Lizenzen, die diese Freiheiten gewähren und sich somit als Lizenzen für Freie Software qualifizieren. Von diesen sollte speziell die FreeBSD-Lizenz erwähnt werden, deren Hauptunterschied zur GPL ist, daß sie die Freiheit nicht zu schützen sucht.

Das GNU-Projekt setzt sich zusammen aus Unterprojekten, die von Freiwilligen oder Unternehmen betreut werden und zumeist der Erstellung und Pflege einer funktionalen Komponente dienen. Diese Unterprojekte werden wiederum als „GNU Projekte“ oder „offizielle GNU Projekte“ bezeichnet.

Der Name des GNU-Projektes leitet sich von dem rekursiven Akronym „GNU's Not Unix“, also „GNU ist nicht Unix“ ab. Da Unix ursprünglich nicht nur eine Art von Systemen sondern auch ein kommerzielles Produkt bezeichnete, war dies dazu gedacht, klar zu machen, daß das GNU-Projekt ein System schaffen soll, welches zwar kompatibel zu aber nicht identisch mit Unix ist.

Free Software Foundation

Die Free Software Foundation ( http://www.fsf.org/) ist eine steuerfreie, gemeinnützige Organisation, die Kapital für die Arbeit am GNU Projekt aufbringt.

Die FSF Europe http://www.fsfeurope.org/, widmet sich den europäischen Aktivitäten im Bereich Freie Software. Als offizielle Schwesterorganisation der Free Software Foundation in den Vereinigten Staaten wird sie ihre Aktivitäten im Umkreis des GNU-Projekts konzentrieren, aber nicht auf diese beschränken. Die FSF Europe nahm am 10.März 2001 den Betrieb auf.

Die Hauptaufgaben der FSF Europe sind es, Initiativen Freier Software in Europa zu koordinieren, ein Kompetenzzentrum für Politiker und Journalisten bereitzustellen und Infrastruktur für Freie-Software-Projekte und speziell das GNU-Projekt zur Verfügung zu stellen.

Geschichte des Linux Kernels

Leider ist heute nicht mehr der genaue Tag bekannt an dem Linus Benedict Torvalds (alle Welt nennt ihn nur Linus, also nicht wundern wenn nicht immer der ganze Name genannt wird) mit der Entwicklung des Linux Kernels begann. Jedoch läßt folgendes Posting aus dem Usenet schon recht genau auf die ersten Aktivitäten schliessen:

From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Gcc-1.40 and a posix-question Message-ID: <1991Jul3.100050.9886@klaava.Helsinki.FI> Date: 3 Jul 91 10:00:50 GMT Hello netlanders, Due to a project I'm working on (in minix), I'm interested in the posix standard definition. Could somebody please point me to a (preferably) machine-readable format of the latest posix rules? Ftp-sites would be nice.

Die erste Version des Linux Kernels wurde von Linus Torvalds am 17. September 1991 im Usenet angekündigt. Bereits kurz darauf fanden sich einige kompetente Helfer, die begeistert an der Entwicklung teilnahmen.

From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: What would you like to see most in minix? Summary: small poll for my new operating system Message-ID: <1991Aug25.205708.9541@klaava.Helsinki.FI> Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT Organization: University of Helsinki Hello everybody out there using minix - I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things). I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-) Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi) PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

Einen Überblick über die Geschichte der Linux Entwicklung soll folgende Auflistung bieten:

Linux oder Minix?

Am 29. Januar 1992 postete Professor Andrew Tanenbaum, der Entwickler von Minix, in der Newsgroup comp.os.minix einen Artikel der sich zu einer längerem Diskussion ausweitete. Minix war zu dieser Zeit ein Unix-Artiges Betriebssystem welches von Tanenbaum zu Lehrzwecken entwickelt wurde.

Hier nun das ursprüngliche Posting von Professor Tanenbaum, der interessierte Leser findet den kompletten Thread unter http://alge.anart.no/linux/history/linux_is_obsolete.txt.

From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: LINUX is obsolete Date: 29 Jan 92 12:12:50 GMT Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam I was in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, so I haven't commented much on LINUX (not that I would have said much had I been around), but for what it is worth, I have a couple of comments now. As most of you know, for me MINIX is a hobby, something that I do in the evening when I get bored writing books and there are no major wars, revolutions, or senate hearings being televised live on CNN. My real job is a professor and researcher in the area of operating systems. As a result of my occupation, I think I know a bit about where operating are going in the next decade or so. Two aspects stand out: 1. MICROKERNEL VS MONOLITHIC SYSTEM Most older operating systems are monolithic, that is, the whole operating system is a single a.out file that runs in 'kernel mode.' This binary contains the process management, memory management, file system and the rest. Examples of such systems are UNIX, MS-DOS, VMS, MVS, OS/360, MULTICS, and many more. The alternative is a microkernel-based system, in which most of the OS runs as separate processes, mostly outside the kernel. They communicate by message passing. The kernel's job is to handle the message passing, interrupt handling, low-level process management, and possibly the I/O. Examples of this design are the RC4000, Amoeba, Chorus, Mach, and the not-yet-released Windows/NT. While I could go into a long story here about the relative merits of the two designs, suffice it to say that among the people who actually design operating systems, the debate is essentially over. Microkernels have won. The only real argument for monolithic systems was performance, and there is now enough evidence showing that microkernel systems can be just as fast as monolithic systems (e.g., Rick Rashid has published papers comparing Mach 3.0 to monolithic systems) that it is now all over but the shoutin`. MINIX is a microkernel-based system. The file system and memory management are separate processes, running outside the kernel. The I/O drivers are also separate processes (in the kernel, but only because the brain-dead nature of the Intel CPUs makes that difficult to do otherwise). LINUX is a monolithic style system. This is a giant step back into the 1970s. That is like taking an existing, working C program and rewriting it in BASIC. To me, writing a monolithic system in 1991 is a truly poor idea. 2. PORTABILITY Once upon a time there was the 4004 CPU. When it grew up it became an 8008. Then it underwent plastic surgery and became the 8080. It begat the 8086, which begat the 8088, which begat the 80286, which begat the 80386, which begat the 80486, and so on unto the N-th generation. In the meantime, RISC chips happened, and some of them are running at over 100 MIPS. Speeds of 200 MIPS and more are likely in the coming years. These things are not going to suddenly vanish. What is going to happen is that they will gradually take over from the 80x86 line. They will run old MS-DOS programs by interpreting the 80386 in software. (I even wrote my own IBM PC simulator in C, which you can get by FTP from ftp.cs.vu.nl = 192.31.231.42 in dir minix/simulator.) I think it is a gross error to design an OS for any specific architecture, since that is not going to be around all that long. MINIX was designed to be reasonably portable, and has been ported from the Intel line to the 680x0 (Atari, Amiga, Macintosh), SPARC, and NS32016. LINUX is tied fairly closely to the 80x86. Not the way to go. Don`t get me wrong, I am not unhappy with LINUX. It will get all the people who want to turn MINIX in BSD UNIX off my back. But in all honesty, I would suggest that people who want a **MODERN** "free" OS look around for a microkernel-based, portable OS, like maybe GNU or something like that. Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl) P.S. Just as a random aside, Amoeba has a UNIX emulator (running in user space), but it is far from complete. If there are any people who would like to work on that, please let me know. To run Amoeba you need a few 386s, one of which needs 16M, and all of which need the WD Ethernet card.

Linux ®

1996-1997 gab es große Verwirrung um den Begriff Linux. Das bei IDG Books erschiene Buch von Naba Barkakati, „Linux Secrets“ trug auf dem Cover den Text: „Linux is a registered trademark of William R. Della Croce, Jr.“. Tatsächlich hatte Mr. Croce den Begriff Linux schützen lassen. Glücklicherweise klärte sich das Problem aber dadurch das die Rechte an Linus abgetreten wurden. Auch zu dieser Geschichte finden sich einige Dokumente im Netz:

Is Linux trademarked?, Linux Journal, Nov 1996, Petition to cancel trademark , Action Taken on Linux Trademark, Linux Journal, Mar 1997, Linux Trademark Dispute, Linux Journal, Aug 1997 und Ownership of Linux Trademark Resolved, Linux Journal, Nov 1997.

Und dieser Pinguin...?

Anfang 1996 waren einige Leute auf der Linux Kernel Mailingliste der Meinung es sei Zeit für ein Linux Logo oder ein Maskottchen. Wie viele solche mehr „phylosophischen“ Diskussionen ergab sich hieraus eine längere Diskussion.

Linus legte seine Vorstellungen in folgender Mail am 9. Mai 1996 dar:

Re: Linux Logo prototype. Linus Torvalds (torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi) Thu, 9 May 1996 17:48:56 +0300 (EET DST) Somebody had a logo competition announcement, maybe people can send their ideas to a web-site.. Anyway, this one looks like the poor penguin is not really strong enough to hold up the world, and it's going to get squashed. Not a good, positive logo, in that respect.. Now, when you think about penguins, first take a deep calming breath, and then think "cuddly". Take another breath, and think "cute". Go back to "cuddly" for a while (and go on breathing), then think "contented". With me so far? Good.. Now, with penguins, (cuddly such), "contented" means it has either just gotten laid, or it's stuffed on herring. Take it from me, I'm an expert on penguins, those are really the only two options. Now, working on that angle, we don't really want to be associated with a randy penguin (well, we do, but it's not politic, so we won't), so we should be looking at the "stuffed to its brim with herring" angle here. So when you think "penguin", you should be imagining a slighly overweight penguin (*), sitting down after having gorged itself, and having just burped. It's sitting there with a beatific smile - the world is a good place to be when you have just eaten a few gallons of raw fish and you can feel another "burp" coming. (*) Not FAT, but you should be able to see that it's sitting down because it's really too stuffed to stand up. Think "bean bag" here. Now, if you have problems associating yourself with something that gets off by eating raw fish, think "chocolate" or something, but you get the idea. Ok, so we should be thinking of a lovable, cuddly, stuffed penguin sitting down after having gorged itself on herring. Still with me? NOW comes the hard part. With this image firmly etched on your eyeballs, you then scetch a stylizied version of it. Not a lot of detail - just a black brush-type outline (you know the effect you get with a brush where the thickness of the line varies). THAT requires talent. Give people the outline, and they should say [ sickly sweet voice, babytalk almost ]"Ooh, what a cuddly penguin, I bet he is just _stuffed_ with herring", and small children will jump up and down and scream "mommy mommy, can I have one too?". Then we can do a larger version with some more detail (maybe leaning against a globe of the world, but I don't think we really want to give any "macho penguin" image here about Atlas or anything). That more detailed version can spank billy-boy to tears for all I care, or play ice-hockey with the FreeBSD demon. But the simple, single penguin would be the logo, and the others would just be that cuddly penguin being used as an actor in some tableau. Linus

Die Meinungen ob grade ein Pinguin geeignet wäre Linux nach aussen hin darzustellen gingen auseinander. Es gab die verschiedensten Entwürfe, in den verschiedensten Abwandlungen.

Linus Torvalds setzte sich schlußendlich durch und so kam es zu einem Pinguin als Logo für Linux. Folgendes Statement von Linus beendete schlieslich die Diskussion.

Re: Linux Logo Linus Torvalds (torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi) Sun, 12 May 1996 09:39:19 +0300 (EET DST) Umm.. You don't have any gap to fill in. "Linus likes penguins". That's it. There was even a headline on it in some Linux Journal some time ago (I was bitten by a Killer Penguin in Australia - I'm not kidding). Penguins are fun. As to why use a penguin as a logo? No good reason, really. But a logo doesn't really ave to _mean_ anything - it's the association that counts. And I can think of many worse things than have linux being associated with penguins. Having a penguin as a logo also gives more freedom to people wanting to use linux-related material: instead of being firmly fixed with a specific logo (the triangle, or just "Linux 2.0" or some other abstract thing), using something like a penguin gives people the chance to make modifications that are still recognizable. So you can have a real live penguin on a CD cover, for example, and people will get the association. Or you can have a penguin that does something specific (a Penguin writing on wordperfect for the WP Linux CD, whatever - you get the idea). Compare that to a more abstract logo (like the windows logo - it's not a bad logo in itself). You can't really do anything with a logo like that. It just "is". Anyway, go to "http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/" for some nice examples.. Linus

Nun brauchte das Kind noch einen Namen. Der erste Hinweiß auf den Namen „Tux“ findet sich in folgender E-Mail:

Re: Let's name the penguin! (was: Re: Linux 2.0 really _is_ released..) James Hughes (jamesh@interpath.com) Mon, 10 Jun 1996 20:25:52 -0400 (T)orvolds (U)ni(X) --> TUX!

Dieser Name wurde dann auch von der Community akzeptiert. Es gibt noch viele nette Geschichten um das Linux Logo und den Kult der sich darum entwickelt hat. Neben Stofftierchen und Schlüsselanhänger gibt es mittlerweile Linux Pinguine in allen nur denkbaren Erscheinungsformen.

Unter http://www.woodsoup.org/projs/tux_aqfh/doc/ finden sich weitere Linux und Informationen zu Tux.