Linux history: What is the relationship between Linux and GNU?

When reading articles about Linux, you will often see a prefix in front of the Linux name "GNU", similar to "GNU/Linux". Don't underestimate this prefix. Without it, maybe there is no Linux today.

The GNU project, also known as the GNU Project or the GNU Project, GNU is an abbreviation for "GNU is Not Unix" (GNU is not Unix). The GNU project was launched by Richard · Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983, with the goal of recreating the spirit of cooperation, openness, solidarity, and mutual assistance in the software industry. The specific goal is Develop a free operating system that is different from the commercial Unix system at the time, but is fully compatible with it. The GNU project uses software that was already freely usable at the time, such as the TeX typesetting system and the X Window graphical window system. In addition, a large number of free software have been developed, such as the powerful text editor Emacs, the C compiler GCC, and most of the UNIX system libraries and tools.

To ensure that GNU Software is free to "use, copy, modify, and distribute", all GNU Software has an agreement to authorize all rights to anyone without any other restrictions. This clause is called the GNU General Public License (GPL).

By 1990, the only major component of the GNU project that was not completed was the kernel of the operating system, and its kernel was called HURD. In 1991, Linus Torvalds developed the Linux kernel, which was quickly distributed on the Internet after it was released under the terms of the GPL. In 1992, Linux was combined with the GNU project, and a completely free operating system using the Linux kernel and GNU project software was born.