Dale Scheetz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On 3 Dec 2001, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote: > > > Dale Scheetz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > > > RMS approached Debian nearly insisting that the distro be called Debian > > > GNU/Linux because of the large component of GNU sofware in the distro. Why > > > would he have any different desire for a set of GNU packages delivered to > > > a non-Linux platform? > > > > Because that particular non-Linux platform is not a free software > > platform. > > So, neither is Sun OS. GNU software runs just fine in that proprietary OS.
Nobody calls it "GNU/SunOS". > According the the FSF, any distribution that uses the complete set of GNU > tools IS a GNU system, no matter what you want to call it. Um, no. You just don't understand the FSF's position. The FSF's position is that there is a specific operating system, called "GNU". There is this related thing, called "GNU/Linux", which is a variant of the GNU system in which the kernel is Linux. But if you try to make a variant of the GNU system in which the kernel isn't even free, you've stripped out an essential part of the GNU system, so that the result is not even a variant of the GNU system anymore. > No, I'm saying that it is silly to suggest that Debian becomes less free > when run on a proprietary OS. Debian is the complete OS, not some random assemblege of pieces. If the complete OS isn't free, then it isn't free. If you want to take a bunch of Debian packages and port them to windoze, feel free! All I ask is: 1) Don't call it GNU. 2) Don't call it Debian. 3) Don't use Debian resources for the effort. Thomas
