Re: Guix != GNU GSD ==> True

[Taylan Ulrich Bayırlı/Kammer]

Brandon Invergo <address@hidden> writes:

> Any other suggestions?  Or am I talking nonsense?

I think you're making sense.  The word "distribution" not only gets
people into the "distro" (therefore "Linux") mindset, it's also
descriptionally wrong as you say.

Perhaps "a GNU-based operating system" is the most correct phrase.  This
would get shortened to "a GNU operating system", or further to "a GNU
system" analogous to "a Unix system", "a BSD system", etc.

    GNU GSD (Guix System Distribution) is a GNU-based operating system,
    or GNU system for short, centered on the Guix package manager.

    ...

    Parabola is a GNU-based operating system, or GNU system for short,
    utilizing the Pacman package manager and ArchLinux software
    repositories.

    ...

And so on.  (Correct me on the technical accuracy of the latter.)

In conversation, the question wouldn't be "which distro" or "which Linux
distro"; it would be "which GNU system", and in a utopic future, simply
"which system". ;-)

So I would recommend GNU and friends to start advertising operating
systems as GNU systems.


I have to note however that this goes against the current terminology
used on several pages on gnu.org which talk of one GNU operating system
(which strangely doesn't exist), and its many "distros".

There is also the notion of "the GNU system" on some pages, which I
think is fine as a more abstract notion, even if the very similar phrase
"a GNU system" is used when talking about concrete systems, but the
pretense of one "GNU operating system" should probably be dropped.

Taylan