Developer | Community Linus Torvalds |
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Written in | C and others |
OS family | Unix-like |
Working state | Current |
Source model | Open-source software |
Initial release | September 17, 1991; 27 years ago |
Marketing target | Cloud computing, embedded devices, mainframe computers, mobile devices, personal computers, servers, supercomputers |
Available in | Multilingual |
Platforms | Alpha, ARC, ARM, C6x, H8/300, Hexagon, Itanium, m68k, Microblaze, MIPS, NDS32, Nios II, OpenRISC, PA-RISC, PowerPC, RISC-V, s390, SuperH, SPARC, Unicore32, x86, XBurst, Xtensa |
Kernel type | Monolithic |
Userland | GNU[a] |
Default user interface | Unix shell |
License | GPLv2[7] and others (the name 'Linux' is a trademark[b]) |
Official website | www.kernel.org |
ftp.funet.fi
) of FUNET in September 1991. Ari Lemmke, Torvalds' coworker at the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), who was one of the volunteer administrators for the FTP server at the time, did not think that 'Freax' was a good name. So, he named the project 'Linux' on the server without consulting Torvalds.[44] Later, however, Torvalds consented to 'Linux'.User mode | User applications | For example, bash, LibreOffice, GIMP, Blender, 0 A.D., Mozilla Firefox, etc. | ||||
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Low-level system components: | System daemons: systemd, runit, logind, networkd, PulseAudio, .. | Windowing system: X11, Wayland, SurfaceFlinger (Android) | Other libraries: GTK+, Qt, EFL, SDL, SFML, FLTK, GNUstep, etc. | Graphics: Mesa, AMD Catalyst, .. | ||
C standard library | open(), exec(), sbrk(), socket(), fopen(), calloc(), .. (up to 2000 subroutines) glibc aims to be POSIX/SUS-compatible, musl and uClibc target embedded systems, bionic written for Android, etc. | |||||
Kernel mode | Linux kernel | stat, splice, dup, read, open, ioctl, write, mmap, close, exit, etc. (about 380 system calls) The Linux kernel System Call Interface (SCI, aims to be POSIX/SUS-compatible) | ||||
Process scheduling subsystem | IPC subsystem | Memory management subsystem | Virtual files subsystem | Network subsystem | ||
Other components: ALSA, DRI, evdev, LVM, device mapper, Linux Network Scheduler, Netfilter Linux Security Modules: SELinux, TOMOYO, AppArmor, Smack | ||||||
Hardware (CPU, main memory, data storage devices, etc.) |
The shared commonality of the kernel is what defines a system's membership in the Linux family; the differing OSS applications that can interact with the common kernel are what differentiate Linux distributions.
Originally developed for Intel x86-based PCs, Torvalds' 'hobby' has now been released for more hardware platforms than any other OS in history.
However, UNIX was born in 1969 ..
The Linux copyright will change: I've had a couple of requests to make it compatible with the GNU copyleft, removing the “you may not distribute it for money” condition. I agree. I propose that the copyright be changed so that it confirms to GNU ─ pending approval of the persons who have helped write code. I assume this is going to be no problem for anybody: If you have grievances ('I wrote that code assuming the copyright would stay the same') mail me. Otherwise The GNU copyleft takes effect since the first of February. If you do not know the gist of the GNU copyright ─ read it.
LMI has restructured its sublicensing program. Our new sublicense agreement is: Free – approved sublicense holders pay no fees; Perpetual – sublicense terminates only in breach of the agreement or when your organization ceases to use its mark; Worldwide – one sublicense covers your use of the mark anywhere in the world
..we have tried to use the word 'Linux' or the expression 'Linux kernel' to designate the kernel, and GNU/Linux to designate the entire body of GNU/GPL'ed OS software,.. ..many people forget that the linux kernel mailing list is a forum for discussion of kernel-related matters, not GNU/Linux in general..