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===GNU===
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.<ref name="gnu_announce">{{cite web|url=http://www.gnu.org/gnu/initial-announcement.html |title=About the GNU Project - Initial Announcement |publisher=Gnu.org |date=2008-06-23 |accessdate=2009-03-09}}</ref> Later, in 1985, Stallman created 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, [[compiler]]scompilers, [[text editor]]seditors, a [[Unix shell]], and a windowing system) were completed, although low-level elements such as [[device driver]]s, [[daemon (computer software)|daemon]]s, and the [[Kernel (computer science)|kernel]] were stalled and incomplete.<ref name="gnu history">{{cite web|url=http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-history.html |title=Overview of the GNU System |publisher=Gnu.org |date= |accessdate=2009-03-09}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://people.fluidsignal.com/~luferbu/misc/Linus_vs_Tanenbaum.html | title = Linus vs. Tanenbaum debate }}</ref>
=== MINIX ===
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