Can the kernel run on its own?
 

Can the kernel run on its own, without the packages from RedHat, Mandrake, Caldera, etc.? If so, where can I get this "naked" OS and how can I install it?

You're looking for Linux From Scratch or LFS.

A kernel is a device enabler. Like a car engine. It won't do anything unless you attach axle, wheels, etc.

LFS LFS LFS!!!

Google "LFS" and go to the first link...

Set aside about 10GB and just do it! Youll be glad you did... When you start having problems with it, come back here and ask specific questions and many people will help you!

Seriously, the cool thing about it is that all of your software (at least the base stuff for sure) will be built around your proc, making it very efficient. You will see a difference in performance plus youll learn a terribly large amount about Linux and its supporting primitive software that keeps it going!

or just.. don't install them. you can easily get a skeleton system from redhat, just don't install ANYTHING you aren't forced to...

You can't simply install a kernel (how would you compile it?) without other tools provided (such as a compiler and other useful things!). Anyway, GNU (Gnu is Not Unix) project provides these tools for linux to interact with. The kernel provides the interface to all you devices (e.g. keyboard, mouse, monitor, network card, processor) and some other useful things like IPTables.

For the purists, Linux *should* really be called GNU/Linux.

But then GLFS just would'nt be the same as LFS! :) But credit should still go to the developers at GNU.

Like everyone else has said, LFS is what you are looking for in terms of minimalisation of an OS.

Hey, you know, this has been bothering me recently - it really is unfair to FSF/GNU developers that people don't call it GLFS and the term GNU/Linux isn't used very often. In fact, that's really the reason this thread came about - correro's miconception is common and yet is it even possible to run Linux without any GNU apps?

10GB? Whoah. I've got Slackware with X, Gnome2, and KDE 3 on a 4GB partition cumfortably... I developed LFS on a 2GB partition. You don't even need that much.

Mozilla compile needed 1.6 though :o

the scenario in my case is: rh8 has partitioned the whole disk for its use.

is it possible to install another linux os (like lfs) on one or some of the partitions that rh8 created?

Yes.

It may get tricky though (no not the mod! :)), especially with remembering which partitions have what on there. Basically when you install LFS you only need to mount a separate partition somewhere in RH such as /mnt/lfs and install the static and then dynamic packages after.

When you finally boot into LFS it thinks the partition you installed it in is / (root) and that RH becomes /mnt/redhat or where ever you choose to mount it.

Just be careful with the different types of partitions you can get and free space available.

thanks for the info, cragstar; now i feel more confident about venturing onto lfs

A good Q/A on this topic is:

http://www.symonds.net/~deep/stuff/linux/gnulinux.php

Though I personally don't care one way or the other about the issue... I usually call it Linux. This debate has been raging for years and I don't think it'll be resolved anytime soon :)

That is a good link - thanks wapcaplet.

When I first started using GNU/Linux I only called it Linux, because that was all I knew. I didn't know about GNU at all. And I'm guessing that is the case with most newcomers to Linux. Plus I think that commercially GNU/Linux wouldn't stand publically as opposed to just Linux. Red Hat GNU/Linux is just not the same!

However, maybe in business GNU/Linux would be more viable, as they often look for some sort of fancy naming for applications that they use!

Rational RequsitePro anyone? :)

I'm well aware of that whole debate on whether it should be called GNU/Linux or Linux (I'm with Stallman on that) but it doesn't necessarily answer whether it is possible to run Linux w/o GNU software.

I think it is currently impossible. No C libs, no gcc. Impossible. Right?

Yeah, as far as I know this would be impossible. Though, I guess a good place to look for the answer is to the embedded device market - where you have very small Linuxes running with only the bare necessities. Does anyone know if those include GNU software? In that case, they could very well be simply the Linux kernel, with a few add-ons developed by the manufacturer (though I have absolutely no idea whether this is the case).