FAQ and GNU

[Leo Gaspard]

On 10/10/2017 03:13 PM, Mike Gerwitz wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 09, 2017 at 22:06:17 -0400, Robert J. Hansen wrote:
>> A request has been made that each instance of "Linux" in the FAQ be
>> replaced with "GNU/Linux".
> 
> GnuPG is part of the GNU operating system.  Anywhere "Linux" is used to
> describe the GNU/Linux operating system, "GNU/Linux" should be used.

The occurences of “Linux” in the FAQ are in the following sentences,
according to a `git grep` in the FAQ directory:

> Except for a slight wording change, this DCO is identical to the one
used by the Linux kernel.

This sentence clearly deserves a Linux and not GNU/Linux... regardless
of whether GnuPG is part of the “GNU operating system” (sorry for the
quotes, it's the first time I hear this phrase) or not.

> - Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Clearly Linux and not GNU/Linux once again.

> (all Linux distros feature a suitable GnuPG tool)

Do we really want to exclude distros based on the Linux kernel but not
on the GNU base utilities, but rather on eg. sbase [1]? I'd say there is
no compelling reason to, so no reason to switch to GNU/Linux here.

> *** … for Linux?
>
> The bad news is there is no single, consistent way to install GnuPG on
> Linux systems.  The good news is that it’s usually installed by
> default, so nothing needs to be downloaded!

The same argument leads me to think there is no reason to switch to
GNU/Linux here again; distros without the GNU userspace don't have an
easier way to install than distros with the GNU userspace as far as I know.

> **** … for Debian GNU/Linux or Ubuntu?

It's already GNU/Linux.

> ** … Linux or FreeBSD?
>
> [Follows a list of email clients compatible with non-{Windows,Mac}
> operating systems]

Do Thunderbird, Gnus, Mutt, Kontact, Evolution or Claws-Mail not work on
computers which would have swapped the GNU userland with eg. sbase? If
so, maybe it'd be good to add a note stating that it doesn't work
without GNU tools, but I don't see any reason to exclude
non-GNU-userspace-based Linux distribution from the list, especially
given how FreeBSD is included in there too.


Thus, I'm not in favor of any change to the current FAQ, to replace a
Linux by a GNU/Linux.

Cheers,
Leo


[1] https://core.suckless.org/sbase

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