Linux and the Unix Philosophy

Overview

Thus far we have explored the tenets that form the core of the Unix philosophy. They are the bedrock upon which the Unix world sits. No one could strongly contest them and rightfully consider him or herself a "Unix person." To do so would invite suspicion by the Unix community (of which Linux is a part) that such a person lacked commitment to Unix and what it stands for.

Having pontificated on the dogmas of the Unix "religion" we are ready to embark upon some of its doctrines. Unix and Linux developers fight tooth and nail to preserve the integrity of the tenets covered up to this point. The precepts discussed here, on the other hand, fall in the "yeah, I kind a go along with that" category. Although not every Unix person will agree with the points in this chapter, the Unix community (and these days the Linux community) as a whole often aligns itself with them.

You will find that some items highlighted here are more concerned with how things should be done than why they should be done. I will try to provide some explanation for these, but be aware that some things are done for no other reason than that is the way they have always been done. Like established religion, Unix has its traditions, too. Linux is exhibiting the same characteristic in a kind of "same stuff, new wrapper" way.

Conspicuous by its absence is the topic of Open Source, the concept that most Linux "accidental revolutionaries" are dogmatic about. Because Open Source is so ingrained in Linux culture and had long ago become the rallying cry of pioneers such as Richard M. Stallman and others, it deserves more complete treatment than the lighter vignettes featured here. So we'll examine it in greater depth later.

It's not surprising that proponents of other operating systems have adopted some of these lesser tenets as well. Good ideas tend to spread in the computer world. Software developers on other systems have discovered Unix concepts that have shown merit in situations where they may not have seemed appropriate initially. They have incorporated these into their designs, sometimes resulting in systems and applications that have a Unix flavor.