The GNU Operating System

What is GNU?

The GNU Project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete Unix-like operating system which is free software: the GNU system.

GNU's kernel wasn't finished, so GNU is used with the kernel Linux. The combination of GNU and Linux is the GNU/Linux operating system, now used by millions. (Sometimes this combination is incorrectly called Linux.)

There are many variants or “distributions” of GNU/Linux. We recommend the GNU/Linux distributions that are 100% free software; in other words, entirely freedom-respecting.

The name “GNU” is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not Unix”; it is pronounced g-noo, as one syllable with no vowel sound between the g and the n.

What is this site?

Our aim is to promote the GNU philosophy and free software. This site used to be a mirror page of a main GNU web site. However, such a mirroring proved to be of no use, so we have decided to discontinue it. From now on, this site will provide informations not reflected on the GNU main site and links to other GNU resources.

The reconstruction of this page is underway, visit us soon to find more information about GNU software, including links to documentation and downloads.

This site is run by Sergey Poznyakoff, who works with GNU since 2000. He is maintainer and developer of several GNU projects.