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What is the history of Linux?

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History of Linux

In 1991 Linus Torvalds began working on what is now known as the Linux kernel while attending University in Finland. At first alone, though soon with the help of many others, Linus continued developing the Linux kernel. Today, what is typically referred to as "Linux" refers to not only the kernel, but to the very extensive suite of GNU utilities that accompany the kernel in most Linux distributions as well. Together, Linux kernel and the GNU utilities form what is popularly known as "Linux". [JMH]

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History Of Linux

The Linux kernel has been marked by constant growth throughout its history. Since the initial release of its source code in 1991, it has grown from a small number of C files under a license prohibiting commercial distribution to its state in 2007 of about 290 megabytes of source under the GNU General Public License

In 1991, in Helsinki, Linus Torvalds began a project that later became the Linux kernel. It was initially a terminal emulator, which Torvalds used to access the large UNIX servers of the university. He wrote the program specifically for the hardware he was using and independent of an operating system because he wanted to use the functions of his new PC with an 80386 processor. Development was done on Minix using the GNU C compiler, which is still the main choice for compiling Linux today (although the code can be built with other compilers, such as the Intel C Compiler).

As Torvalds wrote in his book Just for Fun, he eventually realized that he had written an operating system kernel. On 25 August 1991, he announced this system in a Usenet posting to the newsgroup "comp.os.minix.":

Hello everybody out there using minix -

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).

I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)

Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

Linus Torvalds

In order to facilitate development, the files were uploaded to the ftp server
(ftp.funet.fi) of the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) in September 1991. Ari Lemmke, Torvald's coworker at the HUT who was responsible for the servers at the time, did not feel Freax was a good name. Consequently, he dubbed the project "Linux" without consulting Torvalds. Later, however, Torvalds consented to "Linux": "After many arguments, he finally admitted that Linux was simply the better name. In the source code of version 0.01 of Linux, the name 'Freax' was still used in the makefile. Only later was the name Linux used. Thus the name actually not planned at all became generally accepted world-wide."

Torvalds first published the Linux kernel-then exclusively known as Linux-under its own licence, which was, essentially, a shared source licence with a restriction on commercial activity. With code from the GNU system freely available, it seemed advantageous if this could be used with the Linux kernel. In 1992, he suggested to switch to the GNU General Public License. He first announced this change in the release notes of version 0.12. In the middle of December 1992 he published version 0.99 using the GNU GPL.

Linux and GNU developers worked to integrate GNU components with Linux to make a fully functional and free operating system.

Torvalds has stated, "making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did".

References: http://en.wikipedia.org

First answer by Georgehill1. Last edit by John.m.horn. Contributor trust: 28 [recommend contributor ]. Question popularity: 18 [recommend question].

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