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Antecedents[edit]
The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in 1969 at AT&T's Bell Laboratories in the United States by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna. It was first released in 1971, and initially, was written entirely in assembly language, a common practice at the time. Later, in a key pioneering approach in 1973, Unix was re-written in the programming language C by Dennis Ritchie (with exceptions to the kernel and I/O). The availability of an operating system written in a high-level language allowed easier portability to different computer platforms.
With AT&T being required to license the operating system's source code to anyone who asked (due to an earlier antitrust case forbidding them from entering the computer business),[22] Unix grew quickly and became widely adopted by academic institutions and businesses. In 1984, AT&T divested itself of Bell Labs. Free of the legal obligation requiring free licensing, Bell Labs began selling Unix as a proprietary product.
The GNU Project, started in 1983 by Richard Stallman, had the goal of creating a "complete Unix-compatible software system" composed entirely of free software. Work began in 1984.[23] Later, in 1985, Stallman started the Free Software Foundation and wrote the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) in 1989. By the early 1990s, many of the programs required in an operating system (such as libraries, compilers, text editors, a Unix shell, and a windowing system) were completed, although low-level elements such as device drivers, daemons, and the kernel were stalled and incomplete.[24]
Linus Torvalds has said that if the GNU kernel had been available at the time (1991), he would not have decided to write his own.[25]
Although not released until 1992 due to legal complications, development of 386BSD, from which NetBSD, OpenBSD and FreeBSD descended, predated that of Linux. Linus Torvalds has said that if 386BSD had been available at the time, he probably would not have created Linux.[26]
MINIX, initially released in 1987, is an inexpensive minimal Unix-like operating system, designed for education in computer science, written by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Starting with version 3 in 2005, MINIX became free and was redesigned for "serious" use.
Creation[edit]
In 1991, while attending the University of Helsinki, Torvalds became curious about operating systems[27] and frustrated by the licensing of MINIX, which limited it to educational use only. He began to work on his own operating system which eventually became the Linux kernel.
Torvalds began the development of the Linux kernel on MINIX, and applications written for MINIX were also used on Linux. Later, Linux matured and further Linux kernel development took place on Linux systems.[28] GNU applications also replaced all MINIX components, because it was advantageous to use the freely available code from the GNU Project with the fledgling operating system; code licensed under the GNU GPL can be reused in other projects as long as they also are released under the same or a compatible license. Torvalds initiated a switch from his original license, which prohibited commercial redistribution, to the GNU GPL.[29] Developers worked to integrate GNU components with the Linux kernel, making a fully functional and free operating system.[24]
Commercial and popular uptake[edit]

Ubuntu, a popular Linux distribution
Main article: Linux adoption
Today, Linux systems are used in every domain, from embedded systems to supercomputers,[16][30] and have secured a place in server installations often using the popular LAMP application stack.[31][dead link] Use of Linux distributions in home and enterprise desktops has been growing.[32][33][34][35][36][37][38]
Linux distributions have also gained popularity with various local and national governments. The federal government of Brazil is well known for its support for Linux.[39][40] News of the Russian military creating its own Linux distribution has also surfaced, and has come to fruition as the G.H.ost Project.[41] The Indian state of Kerala has gone to the extent of mandating that all state high schools run Linux on their computers.[42][43] China uses Linux exclusively as the operating system for its Loongson processor family to achieve technology independence.[44] In Spain, some regions have developed their own Linux distributions, which are widely used in education and official institutions, like gnuLinEx in Extremadura and Guadalinex in Andalusia. Portugal is also using its own Linux distribution Caixa Mágica, used in the Magalhães netbook[45] and the e-escola government program.[46] France and Germany have also taken steps toward the adoption of Linux.[47]
Linux distributions have also become popular in the netbook market, with many devices such as the ASUS Eee PC and Acer Aspire One shipping with customized Linux distributions installed.[48]
Current development[edit]
Torvalds continues to direct the development of the kernel.[49] Stallman heads the Free Software Foundation,[50] which in turn supports the GNU components.[51] Finally, individuals and corporations develop third-party non-GNU components. These third-party components comprise a vast body of work and may include both kernel modules and user applications and libraries.
Linux vendors and communities combine and distribute the kernel, GNU components, and non-GNU components, with additional package management software in the form of Linux distributions.