[techtalk] Linux and UNIX

[Robert Wade]

On Fri, 6 Oct 2000, sara ruohotie wrote:

> 
> > Is Linux close enough to UNIX that I could ask some UNIX questions?
> 
> imho it is. but you have to remember, that linux *isn't* unix, it's
> minix actually, it doesn't go with the unix standards.

No, Linux is not Minix at all. While it is true that Linux's creater used
Minix before he wrote Linux, any use of Minix elements was probably purely
coincidental. In fact, the reason Linus wrote Linux, iirc, was because of
his unhappiness with Minix. Now, would you pattern a creation after one
that you don't like so much?

Linus patterened Linux after UNIX, using UNIX and POSIX standards, giving
it nearly complete compatibility with any UNIX varient (that goes along
with UNIX and POSIX standards, that is), whether written completely
independently - as Linux was - or came from the UNIX source family, in the
case of Berkeley BSD UNIX.

Robert Wade