Linux is a "[FOSS](foss.md)" [unix-like](unix_like.md) [operating system](operating_system.md) [kernel](kernel.md), probably the most successful and famous non-[proprietary](proprietary.md) kernel. Linux is NOT a whole operating system, only its basic part -- for a whole operating system more things need to be added, such as some kind of [user interface](ui.md) and actual user programs, and this is what [Linux distributions](linux_distro.md) do (there are dozens, maybe hundreds of these) -- Linux distributions, such as [Debian](debian.md), [Arch](arch.md) or [Ubuntu](ubuntu.md) are complete operating systems (but beware, most of them are not fully [FOSS](foss.md)). Linux is one of the biggest collaborative programming projects, as of now it has more than 15000 contributors.
Linux is written in the [C](c.md) language, specifically the old C89 standard, as of 2022 (there seem to be plans to switch to a newer version). This is of course good.
Linux is typically combined with a lot of [GNU](gnu.md) software and the [GNU](gnu.md) project (whose goal is to create a [free](free_software.md) OS) uses Linux as its official kernel, so in the wild we usually encounter the term [GNU/Linux](gnu_linux.md). Some people just can't be bothered to acknowledge the work of GNU and just call GNU/Linux systems "Linux" (without GNU/). Fuck them.
Linux is sometimes called [free as in freedom](free_software.md), however it is hardly deserving the label, it is more of an [open-source](open_source.md) or [FOSS](foss.md) project. **Linux is in many ways bad**, especially lately. Some reasons for this are:
- It actually includes [proprietary](proprietary.md) software in the form of [binary blobs](blob.md) ([drivers](drivers.md)). The [Linux-libre](linux_libre.md) project tries to fix this.
- It is [tranny software](tranny_software.md) and has a fascist [code of conduct](coc.md) (`linux/Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst`).
- It's development practices are [sus](sus.md), it is involved with many unethical corporations (through the [linux foundation](linux_foundation.md)) including [Microsoft](microsoft.md) (one of the greatest enemies of free software) who is trying to take control over it, [Google](google.md), [Intel](intel.md), [IBM](ibm.md) and others.
- It is a monolithic kernel which goes against the [KISS](kiss.md) philosophy.
- It is [bloat](bloat.md) and [bloat monopoly](bloat_monopoly.md) and in some ways [capitalist software](capitalist_software.md) (just try to fork Linux, maintain it and add/modify actual features).
- It uses a restrictive [GPL](gpl.md) license as opposed to a permissive one. Also it doesn't really enforce its license legally -- we're not advocating legal battles, but the fact that they entertain a license and then don't use it indicates it may be there just for good image.
Nevertheless, despite its mistakes, Linux offers a relatively comfy, powerful and (still) safe [unix](unix.md)/[POSIX](posix.md) environment which means it can be drop-in replaced with another unix-like system without this causing you much trouble, so using Linux is at this point considered OK (until Microsoft completely seizes it at which point we migrate probably to [BSD](bsd.md) or [GNU Hurd](hurd.md)). It can be made fairly [minimal](minimalism.md) (see e.g. [KISS Linux](kiss_linux.md) and [Puppy Linux](puppy.md)) and [LRS](lrs.md)/[suckless](suckless.md) friendly.
Linux is so called monolithic kernel and as such is more or less [bloat](bloat.md). However it "[just works](just_works.md)" and has a great [hardware](hardware.md) support so it wins many users over alternatives such as BSD.
- [GNU Hurd](hurd.md), an unfinished (but somewhat usable) kernel developed by [GNU](gnu.md) itself.
- [BSD](bsd.md) operating systems such as [FreeBSD](freebsd.md), [NetBSD](netbsd.md) and [OpenBSD](openbsd.md) (best from the [LRS](lrs.md) point of view)
Linux was created by [Linus Torvalds](linus_torvalds.md). He started the project in 1991 as a university student. He read a book about operating system design and [Unix](unix.md) and became fascinated with it. Then when he bought a new no-name PC (4 MB RAM, 33 MHz CPU), he install [Minix](minix.md) on it, a then-[proprietary](proprietary.md) [Unix-like](unix.md) operating system. He was frustrated about some features of Minix and started to write his own software such as terminal emulator, disk driver and [shell](shell.md), and he made it all [POSIX](posix.md) compliant. These slowly started to evolve into an OS kernel.
Linus originally wanted to name the project *Freax*, thinking *Linux* would sound too self-centered. However the admin of an FTP server that hosted the files renamed it to *Linux*, and the name stuck.
On 25 August 1991 he made the famous public announcement of Linux on [Usenet](usenet.md) in which he claimed it was just a hobby project and that it "wouldn't be big and professional as [GNU](gnu.md)". In November 1991 Linux became [self-hosted](self_hosting.md) with the version 0.10 -- by the time a number of people were already using it and working on it. In 1992, with version 0.12, Linux became [free software](free_software.md) with the adoption of the [GPL](gpl.md) license.
On 14 March 1994 Linux 1.0 -- a fully functional version -- was released.
