What is GNU

#GNU is a free operating system, and its content software is completely released under the GPL. This operating system is the main target of the GNU project, and its name comes from the recursive abbreviation of GNU's Not Unix!, because GNU is designed to be similar to Unix, but it does not contain copyrighted Unix code. GNU's founder, Richard Matthew Stallman, viewed GNU as a "technical method for achieving social ends."

As an operating system, the development of GNU is still incomplete. The biggest problem is that the kernel with complete functions has not yet been successfully developed. The GNU kernel, called Hurd, is the focus of the Free Software Foundation's development, but its development is not yet mature. In actual use, alternatives such as the Linux kernel and FreeBSD are mostly used as the core of the system, and the main operating system is the Linux distribution. The Linux operating system includes the Linux kernel and GNU components and software in other free software projects, and can be called GNU/Linux (see GNU/Linux naming controversy).

Composition

Main article: GNU software package list

The basic components of this system include the GNU Compiler Suite (GCC) and the GNU C library (glibc), and the GNU Core Toolkit (coreutils), as well as the GNU Debugger (GDB), GNU Binary Utilities (binutils), GNU Cashshell, and the GNOME desktop environment. GNU developers have contributed to the Linux porting of GNU applications and tools that are now also widely used in other operating systems, such as BSD variants of Solaris, and OS X.

Many GNU programs have been ported to other operating systems, including proprietary software such as Microsoft Windows and OS X. GNU programs have proven to be more reliable than their proprietary Unix counterparts. As of November 2015, there were 466 GNU packages (including retired ones, but not including 383) hosted by official GNU development websites.

GNU variants

Main article: GNU variants

The official core of the GNU project is GNU Hurd; however, as of 2012, the Linux core is officially Linux-libre became part of the GNU project and removed all proprietary component variants.

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