Explanation for newbies: The GNU/Linux copypasta is an argument made by Richard Stallman that the operating system should be referred to as “GNU/Linux” or “GNU+Linux” because linux is just the kernel and what makes it useful are the various GNU programs and libraries like coreutils and glibc.
Alpine Linux is a linux distribution that ships without any GNU software (though it can be installed using the package manager).
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“I use Linux as my operating system,” I state proudly to the unkempt, bearded man. He swivels around in his desk chair with a devilish gleam in his eyes, ready to mansplain with extreme precision. “Actually”, he says with a grin, "Linux is just the kernel. You use GNU+Linux!’ I don’t miss a beat and reply with a smirk, “I use Alpine, a distro that doesn’t include the GNU Coreutils, or any other GNU code. It’s Linux, but it’s not GNU+Linux.”
The smile quickly drops from the man’s face. His body begins convulsing and he foams at the mouth and drops to the floor with a sickly thud. As he writhes around he screams “I-IT WAS COMPILED WITH GCC! THAT MEANS IT’S STILL GNU!” Coolly, I reply “If windows were compiled with GCC, would that make it GNU?” I interrupt his response with “-and work is being made on the kernel to make it more compiler-agnostic. Even if you were correct, you won’t be for long.”
With a sickly wheeze, the last of the man’s life is ejected from his body. He lies on the floor, cold and limp. I’ve womansplained him to death.
I love that you went through the effort of editing Stallman in and the text on the back, hope you’ve done the honors in GIMP (Great Intellectual Meme Picture)
Actually, GIMP is for Green Is My Pepper.
Yeah, of course! Kind of goes against the point of the meme but oh well.
I love that alternative copypasta where the alpine user corrects the gnu/linux guy and he just fucking dies.
“I’ve womansplained him to death”
was Stallman really the author of that copypasta? I mean it’s funny to pretend he did, but does anyone know for sure?
No, it was a user on the FreeNode IRC in #Linux, not Stallman
I once saw someone in the irc channel jokingly refer to Alpine as Alpine linux pine. Now when I goto the website, all my mind reads is Alpine Linux Pine Linux…
I was going to say you have to start use Alpine with the Pine email client. But IIRC, Pine stopped development, and a new project called Alpine took over.
So, now use Alpine to run Alpine and start calling it Alpine Linux Alpine Linux.
I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as Alpine Linux Alpine Linux is in fact Pine’s fork, Alpine / Alpine Linux Pine Linux, or as I’ve taken to calling it, Pine’s Alpine plus Alpine Linux Pine Linux. Alpine Linux Pine Linux is an operating system unto itself, and Pine’s Alpine fork is another free component of a fully functioning Alpine Linux Pine Linux system.
And that’s why Alpine should be considered harmful. Copyleft is important, folks! musl and BusyBox are just ways to facilitate even more enshittification, Tivoization, and other corporate abuse than the GPLv2 kernel already does by itself.
I agree with copyleft and the fsf’s core ideas, but also understand some people just don’t like gnu, due to just not wanting to call it “gnu/linux” and stallman being kind of weird
Huh, good point, I never stopped to consider what licenses are behind Alpine.
I agree with your point that pushover licenses should not be the way forward (I personally license all of my major projects with GPLv3 only), but I’ll still keep using alpine because I like it from a technical standpoint.
alpine is technically cool with how lightweight it is but it being non gnu is a big bummer really
Based and GNU pilled
This is why I license my work under GPLv3+ (not going to link my codeberg/GH because I’m not fucking stupid)
I understand what argument could be made against musl, which is licensed under MIT, but what’s wrong with GPLv2?
I remember Torvald saying something about not wanting to change the kernel’s license to GPLv3, but I’ve never understood the differences
GPLv3 is resistant to Tivoization. GPLv2 is not.
TL;DR: “Tivoization” means giving you the source code for the firmware of a particular device, but using DRM to prevent you from actually being able to make changes and run that modified code on the device.
Considering that the entire Free Software movement started because Xerox wouldn’t let RMS improve the MIT AI Lab’s laser printer, you should be able to see how DRM clearly runs counter to everything the GPL is trying to accomplish.
I am not up to date on all these license debates, but don’t you think equating Alpine Linux to “locked down DRM” is just a bit of a logical reach?
Alpine and its components are fully open source, you can make whatever changes you want to them. I am not seeing the argument here.
Alpine and its components are fully open source, you can make whatever changes you want to them.
Who is “you?” That’s the important question.
There’s always this big debate about whether GPL or BSD licensing provides “more freedom,” but that’s the wrong way to look at it. The correct way to look at it is that copyleft licenses provide freedom for end users by prohibiting developers from obstructing their freedom, while permissive licenses provide freedom for developers by permitting them to restrict access to the code for downstream users.
Using permissive licenses in Alpine doesn’t make Alpine itself not “fully open source,” but it does mean that Alpine helps facilitate non-Free downstream uses. In other words, somebody could take Alpine, customize it for a device, and then sell that device to the public without making any code available except for a kernel that they wouldn’t even be able to use on said device because of DRM. I’m not okay with that.
Ah I see, that makes sense. Thanks for explaining, I learned something from your comment and the other one.
Their statement is that Alpine is designed such that it is friendlier to corporations who want to lock down their devices and prevent you from modifying them.
You cannot use coreutils and have a DRM locked down device.
You can use Alpine w/ musl + busybox and make a DRM locked down device
Alpine’s licensing favors large corporation’s rights in preventing the user from modifying their device
Operating systems using coreutils favor the end user’s rights
… Alpine is designed to be friendly to corporations who want to lock down their devices and prevent you from modifying them.
“Designed to” assumes intent. Alpine is absolutely designed to be Small, Simple, and Secure. Using busybox instead of the GNU coreutils is a means to this end. Using musl instead of glibc is a means to this end.
On the about page they list why they use these tools. The licensing is not listed at all.
Fixed, thanks
Meanwhile, Ubuntu is switching to uutils
deleted by creator
Alpine should be considered harmful
that’s a rather anti-liberal sentiment coming from what one would assume to be a mostly pro-liberal open source community.
It’s just a figure of speech. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Considered_harmful
Well, you’d still be using Linux
Not GNU tho
Not mentioning GNU doesn’t mean you’re not using GNU
