this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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But in pretty sure you can just verbatim copy, call it LinusOS and distribute it as such? Don't you have to make some improvements and changes if you rename it as another OS?
The name Linux is trademarked, so you cannot use it without permission, yes: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/legal/trademark-usage
But other than renaming it for trademark reasons, there are no real requirements for making improvements or whatever.
Really? Wow. I'm surprised that an OEM hasn't done that and then renamed it to their own OS to compete with the likes of Apple and Windows or at least Chromebook. Eg Lenovo, HP etc
Forking Linux would involve taking on a huge maintenance burden, so everyone just uses it, though often basing on an older version and/or with some custom patches. That is typically how healthy open source stuff works.
Companies DO put brand names on systems built on top of Linux (or a BSD) all the time though, often ones that don't make it obvious that's what it is. ChromeOS and Android are both Linux based, but Android doesn't ship most of the UNIX-y parts that are typically layered on top, and instead uses their own (also largely open source) components. ChromeOS is actually a fairly close relative of Gentoo with a few custom pieces.
Google has their own internal project for a kernel called Fuchsia, and it's really interesting modern OS development that they've assembled a bunch of experts to work on... But it's increasingly unclear if they plan to deploy it on customer facing products.
A ton of appliance type devices are basically very tiny custom Linux systems, often assembled with tools like Yocto. A lot if the vendors who sell components to go into said devices contribute code and/or money to Linux and Yocto, in order to make their products more attractive to device builders and avoid having to make and maintain their own tooling.
Most consumer routers are basically Linux (usually with a minimal userland like BusyBox), often essentially shitty old customized versions of OpenWRT. Sony alpha cameras? Customized Linux. Off on the BSD side, CellOS and OrbisOS that the PS3 and PS4 run, respectively are modified FreeBSD. Open Source OSes and tooling are everywhere because making, maintaining, and building tooling and developer support for an OS that runs on especially relatively large modern computers is a big, hard project, so very few entities try to do it themselves.