Datasheet

A Brief History of Linux
Linux has a very diverse and interesting history, which dates back much further than you may at first
think. In fact, Linux has heritage spanning more than 30 years, since the earliest UNIX systems of the
1970s. This fact isn’t just relevant to die-hard enthusiasts. It’s important for you to have at least a general
understanding of the unique history that has lead to the modern Linux systems that you will encounter
today. Doing so will better equip you to understand the little idiosyncrasies that differentiate Linux from
alternatives on the market — and help to make Linux development more interesting, too.
The earliest work on Linux itself began back in the summer of 1991, but long before there was Linux,
there was the GNU project. That project had already spent well over a decade working on producing
much of the necessary Free Software components in order to be able to create a fully Free operating sys-
tem, such as Linux. Without the GNU project, Linux could never have happened — and without Linux,
you might not be reading about the GNU project right now. Both projects have benefited enormously
from one another, as you’ll discover in the topics throughout this book.
The GNU Project
Back in 1983, Richard Stallman (aka RMS) was working in the artificial intelligence (AI) lab at MIT. Up
until that time, many software applications had been supplied in source code form, or otherwise had
source code available that users could modify for their own systems, if it was necessary. But at this time,
it was a growing trend for software vendors to ship only binary versions of their software applications.
Software source code had quickly become the “trade secret” of corporations, who would later become
highly protective of their—what open source developers now often term — “secret sauce.”
The initial goal of the GNU project was to produce a Free UNIX-like operating system, complete with all
of the necessary tools and utilities necessary in order to build such a system from source. It took well
over a decade to produce most of the tools and utilities needed, including the GCC compiler, the GNU
emacs text editor, and dozens of other utilities and documentation. Many of these tools have become
renowned for their high quality and rich features — for example, GCC and the GNU debugger.
GNU enjoyed many early successes, but it had one crucial missing component throughout the 1980s. It
had no kernel of its own — the core of the operating system—and instead relied upon users installing
the GNU tools within existing commercial operating systems, such as proprietary UNIX. Though this
didn’t bother many of the people who used the GNU tools and utilities on their proprietary systems, the
project as a whole could never be complete without a kernel of its own. There was intensive debate for
years over alternatives (such as the developmental GNU HURD), before Linux came along.
Linux has never truly formed part of the GNU operating system that Richard Stallman had envisioned.
In fact, for many years the GNU project has continued to advocate the GNU HURD microkernel over the
Linux kernel in its conceptual GNU system, despite the fact that Linux has become the poster child for a
new generation of users and developers and is by far more popular. Nevertheless, you will still occasion-
ally see the term “GNU/Linux” used to refer to a complete Linux system in recognition of the large part
played by the many GNU tools in both building and running any modern Linux system.
2
Chapter 1: Working with Linux
04_776130 ch01.qxp 2/2/07 10:11 PM Page 2