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The Linux kernel has been marked by constant growth throughout its history. Since its 1991 introduction, it has gone from a small number of C Programming Language source code files to its current size of about 40MB of source code and has been put under a free license. It has also seen various controversies about the use of its name for the operating system consisting of it and a large amount of other software, which is commonly also known as Linux.

Historical developments

Previous developments

In 1983 Richard Stallman started the GNU Project with the goal of creating a free UNIX-like, POSIX-compatible operating system. Two years later he created the Free Software Foundation and developed the GNU General Public License. In this way the GNU software developed very quickly because it was developed by many people. Within a short time a large collection of programs were developed. By the beginning of the 1990s there was almost enough GNU software available to create a complete operating system. However a kernel was still missing. This was meant to be the GNU Hurd, but the Hurd developed very sluggishly because debugging was very difficult due to the microkernel's design.

Another free operating system developed in the 1980s was the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). This was developed at UC Berkeley from Unix system 6. Because proprietary AT&T Unix code was contained in BSD, AT&T filed a lawsuit against UC Berkeley which strongly limited the development of BSD. Consequently, BSD was still incomplete and partially proprietary, and the future of BSD was uncertain. Development stalled, and although the GNU project was gradually developing, it lacked a well-behaved UNIX kernel.

Emergence of Linux

Linus Torvalds began the development of Linux in 1991 in Helsinki. It was initially a terminal emulator which Torvalds used for access to the large UNIX servers at his university. He wrote the program in order to be independent of an operating system because he wanted to use the functions of his new PC (with an 80386 processor) optimally. The operating system that he used during development was Minix, and the initial compiler was the GNU C compiler — this is still the main choice for compiling Linux today (although Linux will compile under other compilers such as the Intel C Compiler).

As Torvalds wrote in his book Just for Fun, he eventually realized that he had written an operating system kernel. On 25 August 1991, he announced this system in a Usenet posting to the newsgroup "comp.os.minix.":

"Hello everybody out there using minix -

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).

I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)

Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

PS. Yes – it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(."

The name Linux

Linus Torvalds had wanted to call his invention Freax, a portmanteau of "freak," "free," and "x," an allusion to Unix. During the start of his work on the system, he stored the files under the name "Freax" for about a half year. Torvalds had already considered the name "Linux," but initially dismissed it as too egotistical.

In order to give other people the ability to cooperate in the system or to suggest improvements, the files were placed on the ftp server (ftp.funet.fi) of the Helsinki University of Technology (HAT) in September 1991. The person responsible for the server at that time was Ari Lemmke, Torvald's coworker at the HAT — he did not agree with the name Freax, preferring the name Linux. Without consulting Torvalds, he simply named the software "Linux" on the server, a name which was finally accepted by Torvalds: "After many arguments, he finally admitted that Linux was simply the better name. In the source code of version 0.01 of Linux, the name 'Freax' was still used in the makefile. Only later was the name Linux used. Thus the name actually not planned at all became generally accepted world-wide."

Linux under the GNU GPL

Torvalds first published Linux under its own license. He later decided however to use the GNU GPL license. The first version under the copyleft-license was after version 0.12 in January 1992 and the change of license was pronounce in the CHANGE log . In the middle of December 1992 he published version 0.99 using the GNU GPL.

That was the step that made it possible to develop Linux quickly and efficiently with the help of many other developers from around the world. Thus a growing community of developers created a kernel that was state of the art and competitive with proprietary systems.

Later, Torvalds said in an interview that the decision to place Linux under the GNU GPL was his best decision ever. “Making Linux GPL'd was definitely the best thing I ever did.”.

References

1. Just for Fun,Linus Torvalds and David Diamond, 2001
2. Torvalds, Linux. What would you like to see most in minix? Usenet group comp.os.minix, August 25, 1991.
3. Linus Torvalds in the release notes of Linux 0.12: The Linux copyright will change: I've had a couple of requests to make it compatible with the GNU copyleft, removing the "you may not distribute it for money" condition. I agree. I propose that the copyright be changed so that it confirms to GNU - pending approval of the persons who have helped write code. I assume this is going to be no problem for anybody: If you have grievances ("I wrote that code assuming the copyright would stay the same") mail me. Otherwise The GNU copyleft takes effect as of the first of February.
4. Linux-Kernel, Version 0.99 (Z-kompimiert, 830 kB) auf dem kernel.org-FTP-Server. Dezember 1992
5. Hiroo Yamagata: The Pragmatist of Free Software Linus Torvalds Interview, 05.08.1997

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