What is GNU.
Linux is a kernel.
People often refer to the whole system as Linux, but what they really mean is GNU/Linux.
GNU is a collection of free software.
GNU is the name of a project that is focused on software freedom.
Here is a statement from GNU on Android:
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.htm...
An example of a backronym as a mnemonic is the Apgar score, used to assess the health of newborn babies. The rating system was devised by and named after Virginia Apgar. Ten years after the initial publication, the backronym APGAR was coined in the US as a mnemonic learning aid: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration.[6]
Many United States Congress bills have backronyms as their names; examples include the American CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) of 2020,[7][8] the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) of 2001, and the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act).[9] In the 113th Congress (2013) there were over 240 bills with such names.[10]
The Bing name was chosen through focus groups, and Microsoft decided that the name was memorable, short, and easy to spell, and that it would function well as a URL around the world. The word would remind people of the sound made during "the moment of discovery and decision making".[19] Microsoft was assisted by branding consultancy Interbrand in their search for the best name for the new search engine.[20] The name also has strong similarity to the word bingo, which is used to mean that something sought has been found or realized, as is interjected when winning the game Bingo. Microsoft advertising strategist David Webster originally proposed the name "Bang" for the same reasons the name Bing was ultimately chosen (easy to spell, one syllable, and easy to remember).
[FWIW, no mention of Bing as a backronym.]
For me it's mix of Linux kernel and a subset of common FOSS software[0] providing the boot and low-level operations, while the middleware is provided by AOSP with Dalvik/ART and the top, the whole user experience with GUI, apps and whatever. The middle and the top has absolutely nothing common with Linux.
To give you and idea - if you swap the engine in your Ford to Cummins, would you tell everyone what you are driving Cummins? No, you would tell what you are still driving Ford. The same applies to Android, if you swap the Linux kernel to something else, eg to OpenBSD kernel, would you tell what your smartphone is now running on OpenBSD? No, it's still Android, though with OpenBSD kernel.
[0] if you have Linux kernel then it doesn't makes sense to write tooling and userspace from scratch. Like you can, but.. why?
So, it IS a Linux distribution with other userspace that's not made by GNU. What some people call non-GNU/Linux. Distributions like Alpine for example would also be it.
>The same applies to Android, if you swap the Linux kernel to something else, eg to OpenBSD kernel, would you tell what your smartphone is now running on OpenBSD? No, it's still Android, though with OpenBSD kernel.
Nobody says that it wouldn't, and it also would be true for other Linux distributions. Remember Debian GNU/kFreeBSD?[0]
Now, you could argue that someone who's using the terminal in Debian GNU/kFreeBSD would notice that it's not in fact Linux, but that's a matter of expertise (not every Linux user relies on the terminal), and that's also true for Android.
So, it IS a Cummins distr^W car with other car parts that's not made by Cummins? Despite the big blue "Ford" everywhere on the car and in the documentation?
Another litmus test I often amused by is how when where is a report of a bazillion of Windows infections (especially those when a user should explicitly run the payload, not just a drive-by) then it's Windows problem, but when there is a report of bazillion of infected Android phones and tablets then of course it's not Linux and therefore it shouldn't be chalked up in any "Amount of infected computers per OS" graphs, lol.
> So, it IS a Linux distribution
Humans tends to omit unnecessary repetition and overall tends to shorten things when it's fits their current situation.
But that doesn't make "an operating system distribution based on Linux kernel with system instrumentation and userspace common to other popular operating systems based on Linux kernel" equal to "Linux distribution" or "Linux".
Normally, when it comes to CVEs you tend to see it targeted to the affected piece. E.g.: CVE-2022-38533 affecting GNU binutils and CVE-2023-25139 affecting sprintf() in glibc. Those two things are core parts of most Linux distributions, yet they are still their own distinct thing.
The fact that many times the accused piece of software is Android (like in CVE-2022-20472 or CVE-2023-21079) is just a testament of how big of a monolithic most of the Android userspace is, without ceasing to be a Linux disribution.
>But that doesn't make "an operating system distribution based on Linux kernel with system instrumentation and userspace common to other popular operating systems based on Linux kernel" equal to "Linux distribution" or "Linux".
Well, that's precisely one of the arguments[0] used in favor of naming some Linux distributions as GNU/Linux:
>Since a long name such as GNU/X11/Apache/Linux/TeX/Perl/Python/FreeCiv becomes absurd, at some point you will have to set a threshold and omit the names of the many other secondary contributions. There is no one obvious right place to set the threshold, so wherever you set it, we won't argue against it.
Counter question, is firmware on some cheap-ass $10 router is a Linux distribution? Is this cheap-ass $10 router IS Linux?
> Those two things are core parts of most Linux distributions, yet they are still their own distinct thing
Well, Explorer is the core part of the most of Windows SKUs, yet when the Explorer is at fault - it's Windows fault and goes in the stats, while millions of infected Android phones suddenly doesn't because it's not Linux, it's Android (emphasis mine). Kindergarten level of logic, yet used by grown-ass men.
Well, I think it is. Although they tend to refer to them as Linux-powered, which is still the same but with a hyphen
>Well, Explorer is the core part of the most of Windows SKUs, yet when the Explorer is at fault - it's Windows fault and goes in the stats, while millions of infected Android phones suddenly doesn't because it's not Linux, it's Android (emphasis mine). Kindergarten level of logic, yet used by grown-ass men.
Yeah, probably those things come mostly from how widely present are both Windows and Android on people's lives. It's a media preference since it wont't get you many clicks to say that there was an error on Explorer :P
Still, Android is a Linux distribution until they find a new kernel
Thankfully there are some programs now where kids like that can still thrive under a job+degree hybrid (and no I don't mean that one co-op semester). The work gives them real experience and a faster pace, the degree secures a stable foundation to provide that work context. So maybe when OP is of age the programs will be less limited and accept more students.
in our real world, most of the people making cutting edge breakthroughs in math and science were gifted kids who got a great education through graduate school.
Just depending on age you might refer to it as "a tool called wpa_supplicant to manage its wireless connections, which is not uncommon on older android versions" vs "wpa_supplicant, an old standby Linux wifi management program" or somesuch.
This is not meant to doubt him or anything, but the legal stuff makes me wonder whether it was solely him who wrote it.
I wasn't particularly bright. I think we underestimate the capabilities of children.
I see no reason a 14 year old shouldn't be able to program and say, do multivariate calculus. If anything, they are more intellectually capable than someone going through the pains of late adolescence.
Crystallized intelligence at that age might be low, but fluid intelligence is at or near its peak.
Probably to a large degree because we lock them up in a room all day where they spend their time listening to information targeted at the bottom decile of the room.
I miss the clarity of mind I had when I was younger than that, perhaps 10 or 12.
However, I do think they should be encouraged and tutored to go REALLY deep into anything they might be interested in.
Not suggesting that the work is not impressive, but the kids of today grew up in the era of computers and the Internet, and a lot of problems that were hard for you and me are no longer hard today.
I spent my teenage years learning and understanding sendmail milters. I got to a point where I could write them from scratch. Guess how useful this knowledge is today...
But today, the useful bit is the process you learned to obtain that level of mastery.
All my work arounds and tricks are completely useless today. There is some broader knowledge and problem-solving I learned I’m sure, but ultimately a lot of the tools I learned over the past 15 years are completely useless now and those youngsters are now overcoming their own obstacles!
Maybe he really is a genius but I've become far more cynical in recent years, don't believe everything on the internet! By the way, I'm 12 years old.
Amazing level of cynicism for a 12 year old, I'm impressed.
Anyone can write with this level of skill now. Just have ChatGPT give you suggestions for improvements
He grossly exaggerates the "ease" of this attack, and he also grossly exaggerates the risk, spewing bullshit about hotels and other businesses and customer data being unprotected with seemingly no knowledge that almost every application these days is encrypted, and even if it isn't (like say, some ancient mainframe terminal based system) it's likely not available over whatever wifi network a fucking amazon echo is connected to.
On top of which you're not going to find amazon echos and such in public areas of many businesses because they have to be paired to an amazon account, and that means you can do things on the amazon account like order items and such.
Your local barber shop probably has an amazon echo. Does that mean the credit card data on their ipad payment terminal is at risk? Of course not, because that's all encrypted separately.
I assume something else must be upsetting you today to have this kind of reaction to this post, hope it improves.
>Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
>Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.
that is the entire point. The parent I was replying to was specifically stunting our discussion because of "age"
If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful. We've had to ask you this once already.
Many high end hotels/long-stay furnished apartments have Alexa devices in them.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/19/17476688/amazon-alexa-for...
[2] https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/alexa/alexa-for-hospitali...
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Edit: you've broken the site guidelines a ton and we've asked you to stop doing it a ton—too many times to bother listing. Yet you're still doing it repeatedly—I saw several bad examples just skimming your comments from recent days.
I don't want to ban you but if you keep doing this we're going to have no choice. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and fix this!
I was also into these things at that age, without guidance from my environment. It is great to rationalise everything, isn't it ?
I look forward to seeing what you do 10 years from now. Keep it up!