Creating an operating system with Linux but without GNU

[Julius Smith]

I have a proposed name: UNG: "UNG's not GNU!"

On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 12:16 PM, Les Mikesell <lesmikesell at gmail.com> wrote:
> Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>>
>> To make the point clear, let's try a thought experiment.  Imagine that
>> some people are so fed up with "these threads" that they set out to
>> create an operating system built exclusively out of Free (Libre) and
>> Open Source software, but without any GNU software, to avoid any
>> claims GNUdists might have on it.
>>
>> They're fond of Linux, for they helped write it, so they decide to use
>> it as a kernel.
>
>>
>>
>> They look around and see there are a number of BSD operating systems
>> out there, so they decide to use the BSD userland to complete the
>> operating system, taking bits and pieces from FreeBSD, OpenBSD and
>> NetBSD.
>>
>> It takes some effort to port the lower-level libraries, init scripts
>> and stuff, but eventually the thing boots up, runs a shell and it's
>> announced to the world, with pointers to BSD ports systems and many
>> pre-built ports of applications and servers that most people have come
>> to expect from typical distros.  Lucky for them, most of the ports
>> build without change.
>
> If you are going to make this effort, why not just ditch the kernel too and
> re-implement any missing drivers for the *BSDs or OpenSolaris instead?  That
> way you lose both the zealot political movement and the restrictive license
> in one fell swoop and end up with code that people can actually use.  You'd
> get dtrace and zfs as a bonus and the decades of having to duplicate and
> waste effort because of GPL restrictions that prevent sharing could finally
> be over.
>
> --
>  Les Mikesell
>   lesmikesell at gmail.com
>
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