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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • I’d just like to interject for a moment. What you’re referring to as GNU/Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux/Wine/Proton, or as I’ve recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux plus wine plus proton. GNU/Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities compatibility layers and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX.

    Many computer users run a modified version of the wine/proton system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of wine/proton which is widely used today is often called “steam”, and many of its users are not aware that it is basically the wine/proton system, developed by the win Project and valve.

    There really is a GNU/Linux, and these people are using it, but it is just a part of the system they use. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine’s resources to the other programs that you run. The kernel is an essential part of an operating system, but useless by itself; it can only function in the context of a complete operating system. GNU/Linux is normally used in combination with the wine/proton compatibility layer: the whole system is basically GNU/Linux with wine/proton added, or GNU/Linux/Wine/Proton. All the so-called “GNU/Linux” distributions are really distributions of GNU/Linux/Wine/Proton.