You know what the GNU operating system is, a vast collection of tools, applications, libraries, and even games; Find out by reading this post, where you will learn everything you need to know about the subject, with interesting aspects such as the fact that it is free software and more.
What is GNU?
You may have heard at some point mention these acronyms; that give way to a development project that includes a package of many programs that is called by some people as Linux, due to the fact that many of its versions are created based on modifications of the GNU operating system.
Many programmers seek to contribute to the free software community; so the development of this operating system is making it easier for many users to use their computer without being limited to a program that limits their activities.
With software like this, people will be able to exercise control over the tasks they carry out in front of their computer.
In other words, software like the one present in the GNU operating system gives you complete freedom to copy, run, distribute, modify, study and improve your own system.
Although it should be noted that the free software movement is much more than the development of the GNU system, since it is a whole series of initiatives and programmers who unite their talent in order to progressively achieve total autonomy in the activities carried out with frequently using a PC.
This Unix-like system works based on a program that allocates the resources of the machine; those that are communicated to your kernel or hardware; which is usually called Linux; That is why millions of people use it identified as GNU/Linux.
What is the purpose of the creation of GNU?
The idea for the birth of GNU as a free software project was conceived during the year 1983, in order to take advantage of the cooperative spirit of many programmers within the computer community; In this way, they offered computer users an alternative to eradicate the obstacles established by the owners of important payment operating systems and many of them proprietary.
The founder of the GNU project is Richard M. Stallman, with the intention of making it one of the most complete free operating systems; Over the years it has achieved so much popularity that it is one of those used, for those who want to interact without barriers and give freedom to their creations.
With this GNU system you can count on a set of programs aimed at being able to manage all the actions with your PC, without limitations or complex structures, and also run many others, as well as tools, special applications, games and more.
Tools developed by GNU
This collaborative project has grown as the years go by, especially taking advantage of all the technological resources available within the field of computing, this has allowed it to develop programs such as those mentioned below:
- Bison, a parser generator or simply an application that is responsible for following a series of grammar rules to associate them with certain symbols; comes to be a substitution of Yacc.
- Emacs, text editor, which can be extensible and self-documenting.
- Bash, reader and interpreter of commands.
- Binutils, program for linking accessible tools in GNU.
- Glibc, a comprehensive library for the C language.
- GNU MDK, tool for programming in MIX:
- GNU Ghostscript, PDF and PostScript applications.
- Classpath, library for Java content.
- Hurd, is a novel micronucleus that has the ability to work in conjunction with other servers like the one used by the UNIX-like GNU itself.
The GNU project has contributed to popularizing free format software, creating different types of packages such as CVS for source code control or for detecting and debugging errors such as DDD, used as a graphical tool; in addition to many others such as the unique LilyPond, which is used to edit musical scores; impressive don’t you think?