| Date: 28 April 2011, 12:09
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What is Linux? There was a time (not so long ago) when the first page of
every book and the first slide of every presentation on Linux had this obligatory
question. We have come a long way since that time, and we certainly no
longer feel that we have to start our own presentations with that slide. However, in
a book like this, a brief introduction to Linux in general can provide an appropriate
entry into our discussion of SUSE Linux in particular.
Linux is a multiuser, multitasking, multiplatform computer operating system
(strictly speaking, an operating system kernel) that has been developed by an open
source, collaborative process involving large numbers of people all over the world.
Linux is a Unix-like operating system. This means that it conforms closely to a set of
conventions and standards associated with Unix; however, Linux does not contain
any of the original Unix code.
Linux has been developed using the open source development model. What that
means is that all the work that is done by Linux developers is open and shared. It is
open to peer review, which encourages honesty and means that each developer is able
to build upon work that has already been done by others. Although this method is
often still seen as revolutionary in the field of software development, it is effectively the
same method that has been used by science in the Western world since about the time
of Newton. The development of Western science has been spectacularly successful
precisely because it is based on the same values of openness and shared results
and because of the quality assurance provided by the scrutiny of peer review.
This model works so well both in science and software because openness leads to
scrutiny, and scrutiny leads to improvement and the correction of errors. Openness
also means the ability to build on the results of others. Newton himself said that if he
saw further than others, it was “by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” This sums
up very well the power of collaborative development in any field. It contrasts strongly
with the traditional closed source development model: a group of programmers
working in secrecy with deadlines for work to be handed to a manager. In such a situation,
a team member who knows that his work has a bug in it has no incentive to
tell anyone; when the program is finally released, no one outside the small development
group can look at the code to understand why it does not work as advertised.
In contrast, Eric Raymond coined a phrase to describe the power of having a large
open source developer community to debug code: “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs
are shallow.”
xxxiv Introduction
The dramatic success of Linux and of other associated open source projects such
as the Apache web server and Samba are proof of the power of the open source
development method.
Linux has come a long way since its beginnings in the early 1990s. In 1991, it was
one man’s hobby: Ten years later, in 2001, IBM announced that it was investing one
billion dollars in its Linux strategy.
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