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Linux was written to published Unix standards. Unix code is proprietary and did not contribute to the birth of Linux, but, since the standards were available, Linux looks and operates in much the same way as Unix, especially in the terminal.
So, yes, Linux acts like Unix.
Yes, it was based on Unix insofar as it was designed to do the same things.
No, it was not derived from Unix in that it was not built on Unix code.
The last point is very important, as it enables Linux to exist as open source.
UNIX was an OS originally developed by AT&T in the late 60's. It was (and still is I believe) a proprietary operating system.
Since then, it has sort of morphed into a guideline and a set of standards.
Linux follows these guidelines mostly and was developed to be a UNIX-like (not UNIX -- you have to pay for that title) OS. It has some strange differences though... In fact, IIRC, there is an option somewhere in the kernel called "POSIX ME HARDER" that conforms to the POSIX standards a bit more.
Feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong -- I wrote this off the top of my head.
Feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong -- I wrote this off the top of my head.
You are pretty much correct. Unix has always been proprietary, but somewhere along the line, AT&T decided to publish the standards.
The standards were made public, but not public domain (meaning that Joe's Computer Company could not publish them as "Joe's Computer Company Standards," but anyone could write code to the standards).
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