GNU License for Hardware

[Richard Stallman]

    > Finally, why should we trivialize the kernel of any OS as an "only
    > thing"?

When I say that Linux is only the kernel, I am not trying to minimize
the work of writing of a kernel.  I am comparing it with something of
a greater order of complexity--a whole operating system.  The kernel
is a substantial and important software package; at the same time, it
is just a part of the operating system.  The same is true of the
compiler, the C library, the editor, the debugger, to list some parts
of the system that were written by the GNU Project.