Category talk:Linux

Family versus kernel

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I tentatively suggest we may wish to create a second category for the Linux kernel, and rename this category.

For the first nine years of its existence, the description of this category said Linux is an operating system. About a month ago the description was changed to say it's an OS kernel. Upon reflection, though, the change amounts to replacing one topic with a different one. Our colleagues at en.wp chose to have two separate articles, w:Linux for the family of operating systems, and w:Linux kernel for the thing that defines that family. Now, en.wp has adopted the unfortunate practice of giving an unadorned name to the most commonly used meaning, thereby further strengthening the mainstream-bias form of non-neutrality endemic to that sister project; we have preferred to qualify all senses. So how about if we have two categories, one for "Linux kernel" and one for the OS family, with a qualified name for the family. The question becomes, what to call the family category. Perhaps "Linux operating system family"? --Pi zero (talk) 17:15, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

The immediate reaction would be to call "GNU Linux", but then I recall there is Android, which uses the kernel, but not GNU. More serious question is do we have a list of articles where we really need to have a "linux family of OS" as a category, and we can't do better?
•–• 17:51, 27 December 2020 (UTC)

As a computer scientist, whenever we refer to the Linux Kernel it was always assumed it was a Linux platform. Sure there is the *nix shorthand for an ambiguous Linux platform but again we always assumed some form of Linux Kernel LTS. As for the flavors Android, that is the only area of difference since that is a fork off the base Linux Kernel LTS. Wikinews does not publish many technical articles where Linux and the Linux Kernel need to be differentiate so when in doubt keep it simple stupid. AZOperator (talk) 00:57, 22 January 2021 (UTC)

Linux for washing clothes.

I second that. Wikinews is not an encyclopedia. “As a computer scientist,” I grudgingly accept laypersons calling everything “Linux” that just relates to or builds on top of a recent official Linux kernel. E.g. news about the w:Windows Subsystem for Linux can/should be tagged with Category: Linux, even though it’s not an OS. Kays (talk) 13:37, 10 February 2021 (UTC)