"A lot of people have been making this argument that Linux distros aren't operating systems, because, the kernel is its independent project, libraries and software are independent projects. The distro is just merging them all together. That's not how the real world works, we can talk about how Linux is not an operating system, it's an operating system."

This New Linux Distro Thinks Its Above The Law — @BrodieOnLinux@mstdn.social.

When defining what an operating system is, you must also take into consideration the structure of other operating systems and how they differ from Linux. Almost every modern operating system, MacOS, Windows, Android, iOS, *BSD, Haiku and so on are complete operating systems where the kernel and userspace components are developed in conjunction with each other.

Linux to date is the only operating system consisting mostly from a patchwork of different programs to provide the same functionality as an operating system. There is to my knowledge no other well known operating system with a modular design like Linux, hence why that should be weighed accordingly when differentiating a Linux distribution from an operating system. All of the aforementioned points made being strong reasons for why it should not be considered one as it does not share the same design structure as conventional operating systems.

At the end of the day, it really is just a kernel and a distribution of software and configuration files designed to automate deployment in a nice and convenient way for installation. If we were to use the very same logic that you have, then anything using Ansible would be considered an operating system as that too automates the deployment and configuration of software. We both know that is clearly not the case.

Tags: #Linux, #FreeSoftware, #FOSS, #FLOSS, #Privacy.