GNU variants

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GNU variants are said by the Free Software Foundation to be operating systems which use application software and system libraries from the GNU Project, but use a kernel other than the GNU Hurd.

1 Linux-based
2 BSD-based
3 OpenSolaris-based
4 Gentoo/Alt
5 External links

[edit] Linux-based

Main article: GNU/Linux naming controversy

Linux is usually distributed with a GNU userland and is the primary installed base of GNU software components; such Linux distributions are occasionally known as GNU/Linux, most notably the Debian GNU/Linux distribution.

[edit] BSD-based

Debian GNU/kFreeBSD is an operating system released by the Debian project for i486-compatible computer architectures. It is a distribution of GNU with Debian package management and the kernel of FreeBSD. The k in kFreeBSD refers to the fact that only the kernel of the complete FreeBSD operating system is used. No official release of the operating system has yet been made.

Debian GNU/kFreeBSD can be tried using the Ging LiveCD. Ging is a Live CD based on Debian GNU/kFreeBSD. Ging is a double recursive acronym that stands for Ging Is Not Ging. As of version 0.1.0, Ging includes a KDE 3.4 desktop, a complete toolchain with gcc 4.0, and a mixture of GNOME and KDE applications.

Debian GNU/NetBSD is an operating system released by the Debian project. It is a distribution of GNU with the NetBSD kernel. It is currently available for IA-32 and DEC Alpha architectures.

[edit] OpenSolaris-based

For more details on this topic, see Nexenta OS.

Nexenta OS is the first distribution that combines the GNU userland and Debian's packaging and organisation with the OpenSolaris kernel. Nexenta OS is available for IA-32 and x86-64 based systems. Nexenta Systems, Inc has initiated the project and sponsors its continued development.

[edit] Gentoo/Alt

For more details on this topic, see Gentoo/Alt.

Gentoo/Alt is a Gentoo Linux project created to manage porting the Portage framework and other features to other operating systems, such as Mac OS X and the open source BSDs. Gentoo/Alt was set up by Pieter Van den Abeele and Daniel Robbins after Pieter Van den Abeele founded Gentoo for Mac OS X. Gentoo/Alt systems vary in how much of GNU they use, but tend to include at least the GNU toolchain.

Gentoo/Alt projects include: