Primer: LAMP - ' Glossary'
( Page 2 of 2 )

: Getting To Know Open Source"> Glossary: Getting To Know Open Source

One of the first obstacles in getting comfortable with open source is the terminology. If your company wants to write or sell software based on open-source code, make sure everyone is speaking the same language.

Kernel
The heart of an operating system (OS); manages memory, processes, etc. Linux is actually a kernel, though it comes packaged with code that qualifies it as an OS.

GNU
A recursive acronym: "GNU's Not Unix." The code whose presence makes a kernel an OS. GNU components round out the Linux system; GNU has its own kernel as well.

Free Software
In open source, "free" means "freely available," not "without cost." Equal access to source code was first advocated by the Free Software Foundation, begun in 1983.

Open Source
When lowercase, open source usually refers to freely available code that is developed collaboratively by volunteers. Capitalized, Open Source is a certification from the nonprofit Open Source Initiative.

GNU Public License
The GPL, which governs the Linux kernel, is the most frequently used open-source license. It requires that any modifications to the source be shared.

Source: Adapted by Baseline research from The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source (Martin Fink; ISBN: 0-13-047677-3; Prentice Hall PTR 2003)

>>> More Projects: Networks/Storage Articles          >>> More By David F. Carr