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5.20.2004
The Latest Linux Controversy
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A report coming out today from the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution apparently questions the originality of Linux, and has already started a rancorous dispute in the tech press.
I have not yet laid eyes on the study, but I confess to some bafflement over the brouhaha. I did not know that anyone doubted that Linux must be classified as part of the Unix family, a point made by such gurus as Andrew Tannenbaum, Modern Operating Systems (2d ed. 2001) and Abraham Silberschatz, et. al., Operating System Concepts with Java (6th ed. 2004).
Tannenbaum: "Given this history [which the author has just recounted], strict POSIX conformance, and overlap between the user communities, it should not come as a surprise that many of Linux' features, system calls, programs, libraries, algorithms, and internal data structures are very similar to those of UNIX. For example, over 80% of the ca. 150 Linux system calls are exact copies of of the corresponding system calls in POSIX, BSD, or System V." (p. 680)
Silberschatz, et. al.: "In its overall design, Linux resembles any other traditional, non-microkernel UNIX implementation. It is a multiuser, multitasking system with a full set of UNIX-compatible tools. Linux's file system adheres to traditional UNIX semantics, and the standard UNIX networking model is implemented fully. The internal details of Linux's design have been influence heavily by the history this operating system's development." (p. 750)
More Silberschatz, et. al.: "Whereas the Linux kernel is composed entirely of code written from scratch specifically for the Linux project, much of the supporting software that makes up the Linux system is not exclusive to Linux but is common to a number of UNIX-like operating systems. In particular, Linux uses many tools developed as part of Berkeley's BSD operating system, MIT's X Window System, and the Free Software Foundation's GNU project." (p. 748)
This does not detract from the formidable intellectual achievement of Linus Torvalds and his fellows. Writing a great UNIX-family operating system is not easy, and full honor is due.
The sensitivity to the study, I think, comes from its effect in undermining the myth and the politics of open source. If Linux is derivative from UNIX, then the idea that spontaneous swarms of programmers, working without serious economic support, can perform the function of creating and maintaining an important industrial product, is a pipe dream.
Well guys, it is a pipe dream, as I recount here. Sorry.
posted by James DeLong : 5/20/2004 09:34:46 AM
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