and the g in gnu stands for gnu
this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
499 points (99.6% liked)
Programmer Humor
27883 readers
1798 users here now
Welcome to Programmer Humor!
This is a place where you can post jokes, memes, humor, etc. related to programming!
For sharing awful code theres also Programming Horror.
Rules
- Keep content in english
- No advertisements
- Posts must be related to programming or programmer topics
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Then what does the g in gnu stand for?
I think this is sarcasm, but just in case it isn't... GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix".
I can't believe they didn't put this one in there!
load more comments
(1 replies)
Is it pronounced gnu or jnu?
Are you gnu here?
Jnu enough to stoke an ancient flame war for my personal entertainment.
You must have jift for that
load more comments
(1 replies)
Unironic answer, the "g" is pronounced, but obviously like the g in give or great, not like j.
@zqwzzle@lemmy.ca @flamingos@feddit.uk it’s pronounced .GIF
The G in GIF stands for Graphical, but the G in Graphical stands for Graham Crackers, the G in Graham Crackers stands for God, and the G in God stands for Gnu. From there it's Gnus all the way down. Also, God pronounces "Graphical" with a soft G as in Jod.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
A topic with a a lot of gnuances.
gnusnotuniximagemanipulationtoolkitlibraryobject
Never thought about it and I'm gonna go back to not thinking about it
In case you were wondering the 'w' in 'wine' stands for 'wine', and the full acronym is 'Wine Is Not an Emulator'. What do you think the 'w' in 'Wine Is Not an Emulator' stands for?
I once tried to play "PHP" in Scrabble and argued that it should be infinite points.
The opponent didn't agree.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
And this really exposes a major challenge with FOSS.
Names have meaning - it's why Office is called Office.
This gnu naming isn't much of an issue, because this is stuff only technical folks handle. But if we want end-users to embrace things, we need meaningful names - meaningful to them.
Whenever I tell my friends or family to install Jellyfin so they can access my media, the look on their face says it all.
MediaMonkey - alright, I get it (yea, not FOSS)
Plex? OK, if someone then says "think MultiPlex Theaters", you get it. (Also not FOSS)
Jellyfin? What is that? Jam on a sharkfin?
These work really well:
Resilio SYNC (Yeah, not FOSS, but the name makes sense)
SyncThing (FOSS)
FolderSync (not FOSS)
Notice a trend here?
I have a printed spreadsheet for all the software I use - if I haven't touched a service for a couple months, I'll forget the meaningless name.
Counterarguments:
- Chrome
- Edge
- Sky
- Adobe Acrobat
- Outlook
All wellknown programs or services where the name has no relation to the purpose.
These are all major commercial services that can afford advertising or are already more than established. Most FOSS doesn’t have these perks.
This.
Nobody's going to forget the name of the browser they use every single day. But if it's some niche tool that I have to look up every time I use it once every few years, that's more difficult.
load more comments
(1 replies)
You went on all this rant and forgot the og?
GIMP is an acronym for what's arguably the most descriptive name possible: GNU Image Manipulation Program.
But the acronym totally destroys the understandability of the program name and instead is understood as "an unpleasant or stupid person" (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gimp).
If you look at similar commercial software you get names like MS Paint, Photoshop or Lightroom.
They should have stuck with "GNU Image", "GNU Photo" or maybe "GNU PhotoEdit".
When I teach old people how to use GIMP, we all laugh at the name, I explain what it stands for, and then they don't forget it.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Compared to how Microsoft names things, FOSS naming is harmless on average.
Think of them naming the gaming app on Windows PCs "Xbox", or the distinction between "VS Code" and "Visual Studio Code", or "edit" (msedit), etc etc
load more comments
(2 replies)
I mean you kind of break your point with Plex. I have no clue what MultiPlex theaters are, but I do know what jellyfin is. Lots of names have no meaning behind them, even for very popular things.
load more comments
(6 replies)
load more comments
(6 replies)
Also glibc
Which is the actual GNU C Library
I remember a time when almost every category of tool had something named "Yet Another [Thing]" because there were already so many options to choose from when they decided to make their own.
load more comments
(1 replies)
You've been gnomed
Not to be confused with glibc. Where the g does actually stand for gnu.
I thought it was called gnome because little gnomes go into your computer to draw the windows
The g in gobject stands for "Go run away as fast as you can and you may survive"
view more: next ›