Changing "Linux" with "GNU/Linux" or "GNU"

[Yavor Doganov <yavor doganov org>]

[RMS is in Reply-To and M-F-T because this is an important terminology
issue.  I sent this message yesterday CC-ing him, but it never got
through Gmane thus I'm resending it directly to the list only.]

Christian Rose, one of the GTP spokespersons, advised [1] that we
should bring this issue here.

There was some discussion within the Bulgarian Translation Team
regarding the substitution of "Linux" with "GNU/Linux" when the string
refers to the operating system, and not the kernel.  We agree with
Christian that this is not actually a translation issue and filing
bugs at Bugzilla would not be the appropriate action, until there is
an established policy.  The problem should be solved at a higher
level.

Since the GNOME Documentation Project is authoritative for terminology
throughout GNOME, we kindly ask you to take a decision to add "GNU"
and/or "GNU/Linux" to the word list of the GNOME Documentation Style
Guide.  Rationale:

  *  The system that uses the Linux kernel is actually a GNU system [2]
     -- a GNU operating system using the kernel Linux.  It is
     unacceptable to call the OS with the name of its kernel, even if
     that is a well established *mistake*, tolerated by major software
     companies, and unfortunately, many Free Software developers.

  *  We call it a mistake, because the GNU Project did a much larger
     part of the job and they deserve at least an equal share of
     credit.  What's more important is that we think that Free
     Software should be spread along with the ideals of the Free
     Software Movement -- thanks to these ideals and the restless work
     of countless number of developers more and more users are being
     liberated.  It is crucial for these users to know that the
     operating system they use is a variant of the GNU system -- a
     project that started in 1984 to set the users free.

  *  GNOME is part of the GNU Project and its official desktop.  It's
     not only a desktop that rocks, that concentrates on usability,
     accessibility and i18n -- these are secondary issues and some may
     even argue about them.  The most important thing about GNOME is
     that it's free-as-in-freedom desktop.  It is quite natural for
     GNOME to follow the terminology and the policy of the GNU
     Project.  The main point is to raise awareness of the software
     freedom issues and get them as much closer to the average user as
     possible.  We believe that if users know that the system is
     GNU/Linux some of them might try to find out why it is called so
     and why it is created.  Some of them might find the reasons
     compelling enough to join the Free Software Movement.  We think
     that calling the system with its actual name "GNU" or "GNU/Linux"
     (the most popular variant) is a small step towards that
     direction.

  *  Technically speaking, GNOME runs fine on all GNU variants --
     GNU/Linux, GNU/kFreeBSD and GNU/Hurd (well, with some caveats
     here).  In most cases when developers refer to the "Linux operating
     system" in the user interface they actually mean GNU/Linux, but
     certainly it is valid for all variants of the GNU operating
     system, with some exceptions.  That said, perhaps it might be
     even better to substitute all instances of "Linux" with "GNU".

In conclusion, we believe that the GNOME Project should stand firm
behind the ideals and principles of the Free Software Movement.

[1] http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-i18n/2006-July/msg00030.html

[2] There are some cases when it's possible to assemble an OS with
    Linux+uclibc+busybox, which doesn't use GNU userland, but GNOME
    won't run on it anyway.  Most desktop distributions that call
    themselves "Linux distributions" are actually "GNU/Linux
    distributions", so we're talking about the general case.

[3] Again, we would like to point out that we're speaking only about
    those cases when it refers to the operating system, not the
    kernel Linux.

-- 
In the GNU Project, discrimination against proprietary software is not
just a policy -- it's the principle and the purpose.  Proprietary
software is fundamentally unjust and wrong, so when we have the
opportunity to place it at a disadvantage, that is a good thing. --RMS