The Untold Story of Linus Torvalds and the Birth of Linux

1. Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds was born in Helsinki, Finland. His father Nils Torvalds was a radio journalist, his mother Anna Torvalds also a journalist, and his grandfather Ole Torvalds a poet and journalist. His maternal grandfather Leo Törnqvist was one of Finland's first statistics professors, after whom the Leo Törnqvist Award is named. At age 11, at his grandfather's request, Linus wrote small statistical programs in BASIC, marking the start of his programming experience.

2. The Birth of Linux

In 1991, while at the University of Helsinki, Linus Torvalds began writing a kernel project that would become Linux. Initially it was a virtual terminal for accessing a large Unix server on his 80386‑based PC, developed on Minix using the GCC compiler.

On August 25, 1991, he announced the project on the Usenet newsgroup "comp.os.minix":

"Hello Minix users! I am working on a (free) operating system for 386 (486) AT clones... I have already ported bash (1.08) and gcc (1.40) to it and it seems to run well. I would like to hear what features you would like to see. Feel free to suggest anything, though I cannot promise to implement every idea.\n\nLinus ([email protected])"

3. Origin of the Name Linux

Torvalds originally intended to name his project "Freax" (a blend of "fread", "free" and an "x" hinting at Unix). He stored the files under that name for the first six months. In September 1991, after uploading the files to the FTP server at Helsinki University of Technology, the server administrator Ari Lemmke renamed the directory to "Linux" without consulting Torvalds. Torvalds later accepted the name, noting that it was widely adopted.

4. Linux under the GNU GPL

Torvalds first released the kernel under his own license, restricting commercial use, while the accompanying software was released under the GNU GPL as part of the GNU project. The first kernel (version 0.01) included a binary version of GNU Bash.

"Unfortunately, a kernel alone cannot do anything. A working system also needs a shell, a compiler, libraries, etc., each with its own copyright restrictions. Most of the software used with Linux is GNU software, which is non‑commercial. The initial release did not contain these components – you can request them from me (or GNU)."

In 1992 Torvalds announced that future kernels would be released under the GPL; version 0.12 marked this decision, and by December 1992 version 0.99 was GPL‑licensed. He later said, "Releasing Linux under the GPL is the best thing I have ever done."

5. Naming controversy

Although "Linux" originally referred only to the kernel, it quickly became associated with the GNU software that runs on it, leading to the combined term "GNU/Linux". Various projects and developers have used different naming conventions, but most still refer to the system simply as "Linux".

6. Official mascot

In 1996 Torvalds chose a penguin as the mascot for Linux. Larry Ewing created the original draft, and James Hughes later named it "Tux".

7. The kernel

Beyond Torvalds, notable kernel maintainers have included Alan Cox (2.2 series until end of 2003) and Marcelo Tosatti (2.4 series until mid‑2006). Andrew Morton led the development of the first stable 2.6 release in December 2003. The kernel’s success stems from its freedom, stability, security, scalability, and maintainability, despite occasional vulnerabilities that are promptly patched.

8. Community

Most Linux development is performed by a global community of programmers who submit patches and suggestions. Many companies also contribute to kernel and auxiliary software development. Distributions range from community‑driven projects like Debian to corporate‑backed ones such as openSUSE and Fedora. The largest annual gathering, LinuxTag in Berlin, attracts around 10,000 participants.

9. Open Source Development Lab and Linux Foundation

The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) was founded in 2000 as an independent non‑profit aiming to optimize Linux for data‑center and carrier use. It was funded by companies such as Red Hat, Novell, Mitsubishi, Intel, IBM, Dell, and HP. In 2007 OSDL merged with the Free Standards Group to form the Linux Foundation, focusing on improving GNU/Linux to compete with Windows.

10. Related companies

Although Linux is an open‑source project, many companies profit from it. IBM and HP were early adopters on their servers; Red Hat maintains its own distribution; Trolltech contributed Qt under the GPL, enabling KDE development, among others.