this feels like a silly thing to say but even though i’ve been using linux since 2004 I feel like i’m learning recently that the impact of the GNU project’s software (and its design decisions) on me is even bigger than I thought
like even just the fact that (afaik) many of them used Emacs has an impact on me today
(please no “it’s GNU/Linux”)
@b0rk people mock the "GNU Coding Standard" because its specification of how to indent C is legitimately weird. But that's actually the least important part of the document. There is stuff in there about how programs should *behave* that's been much more influential.
https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Program-Behavior.html
@zwol “Please define long-named options that are equivalent to the single-letter Unix-style options. We hope to make GNU more user friendly this way.”
i had no idea this was the goal and it’s so good
Julia Evans
Zack Weinberg
Jim Luther
Steven Woolgar