Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:50:33 -0300 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Sd=E4vtaker?= <sdavtaker@gmail.com> To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Current Gentoo user Message-ID: <47617EF9.1070000@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20071213172343.GG11231@demeter.hydra> References: <49bf44f10712122100y45f12f77q4ae47f311905be25@mail.gmail.com> <20071213085217.GE29386@telos.xk7.net> <20071213172343.GG11231@demeter.hydra>
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Chad Perrin escribi=F3: > On Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 08:52:18AM +0000, Paul Waring wrote: >> Gentoo isn't really an operating system, it's a Linux distribution - t= he >> only way in which it differs from other distributions (say Debian) is = in >> its package management. >=20 > I've been running into the notion that Linux distributions aren't > operating systems lately -- two or three times now. I find this > immensely confusing. The way things are going, it seems that ultimatel= y > the term "operating system" will never be allowed to apply to anything > that has anything at all to do with the Linux kernel, period. >=20 > 1. The kernel isn't an OS (I happen to agree with this one). It's ju= st > a kernel, and it takes more than a kernel to make an OS. >=20 > 2. The distro isn't an OS (I happen to disagree with this one). It's= > just a distribution, which, um, differs from an OS in that it, um, > isn't an OS. >=20 > 3. What the heck *is* an OS? >=20 If you want a fast read:=20 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system#Definition_of_an_Operating_= System_.28OS.29 But there is a lot more info in Tanenbaum books, Staling books, or=20 Silverschatz books, the three of them named "operating systems". Rule of the thumb... If you find an easy application who runs in one=20 "Distribution" and it doesnt run in another one, then you can be pretty=20 sure those are not the same OS. =3D)
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