The History of Linux

So to get a better understanding of Linux let's start by examining where Linux comes from and why.

(Here's the short version)

In the early 70's there was UNIX. UNIX systems were not (and are still not) cheep and fall under a lot of the same licensing issues that a Microsoft box does. (i.e. you're not allowed to distribute or modify the code without their permission). So there was this guy by the name of Richard Stallman who came up with this idea to create an open source, freely distributed operating system. So in the 80's Richard started working on his "free" OS. At first he was the sole member of his team and began to write code and publish it on bulletin board systems (BBS). Soon Richard's team grew and he has people all over the place helping him write the code.

This was good news since building an operating system from scratch is no small task. If you've ever looked at building your own OS from the ground up, or even explored an OS in depth, you know there are a lot of moving parts that need to be taken into account. Things like the compiler, hardware support, libraries to support applications, text editors and tons of over things; oh, and don't forget about the kernel (you're going to need one of those).

So in 1985 Richard founded the "Free Software Foundation" to help with the GNU project. By 1990 Richard either found or had written most (if not all) of the components of the operating system; minus one, the kernel.

On a side note: coming up with the name for the project started one of the more odd phenomena in open source software; creating wired but meaningful names / acronyms for products. Richard came up with the acronym of GNU, which stands for "GNU's Not Unix". Yes, the G in GNU stands for GNU. This is known as a recursive acronym. Odd I know but people have been having fun with acronyms ever since.

Now back to our story. Around the same time the GNU project was being built, Linus Torvalds created a kernel (oddly enough, it was just what the GNU project needed). So joining Linus's kernel into the GNU project finished the puzzle and an open source, free operating system was born.

Going back to names for a second, since the OS is often referred to as Linux, most people think Linus created it. Of course he played a vital role in building it, but it's important to remember all the work the GNU team put into the OS as well. So to be correct, it should be referred to as "GNU/Linux".