GNU/Linux naming controversy

The GNU/Linux naming controversy is a dispute between members of the free and open source software community relating to the normative branding of the computer operating systems commonly referred to as Linux.

GNU/Linux is the term promoted by the Free Software Foundation (FSF), its founder Richard Stallman, and its supporters, for operating systems that include the FSF's GNU utilities and the Linux kernel. The FSF argues for the term GNU/Linux because GNU was a longstanding project to develop a free operating system, of which they argue the kernel was only the final small piece. Proponents of the Linux term dispute this term for a number of reasons.

Among the major distributions based on the Linux kernel and GNU software, Debian GNU/Linux noticeably uses this term in its official name.