i know Stallman gets a bit funny about calling it GNU/Linux

i know GNU is gnu is not unix
and i know linux is the kernel developed in the early 90s by linus

but what is GNU exactly,can you still see this "portion" on modern up to date distros like ubuntu and centos

wha is it exactly? is it the software programs that run on the kernel like Gnome and KDE and the utilities like Konqueror and dolphin file managers and other stuff?

just curios...and is it absolutely right to call it GNU/Linux?

probably: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU
or: https://www.gnu.org/

Formally (and I'll permit myself to generalize here ...), "linux" is the operating system kernel and GNU is, more or less, everything else, with a marked emphasis on maintaining free and open source software (FOSS) principles.

The GNU project was/is developing its own kernel ("HURD") and several distros use it. The ubiquitous combination of the linux kernel and the rest of the GNU OS is much more common, however.

The proper nomenclature is indeed GNU/Linux for distributions based on those components. Common usage is to refer to any distro using the linux kernel as "linux". Opinions vary ....

Hope this helps. As pan64 has pointed out, there is a ton of information on the web should you be interested in delving deeper.

GNU provided everything for an operation system, except the kernel, Hurd was, and is, not entirely ready for real world usage

To be able to provide a full operating system, the Linux kernel was taken, since this was ready/more usable at this time.
Therefore, Linux is the kernel of the GNU/Linux operating system.

If Linux is replaced with the Hurd kernel, than it is the GNU/Hurd operating system.
https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/index.html

GNU produces a great deal of software, extending from lower-level system-related packages (e.g. coreutils, diffutils, findutils, gcc etc.) to higher-level applications (chess, gpaint, gtypist etc.).

https://www.gnu.org/manual/blurbs.html

Personally, I would define the GNU part of GNU/Linux as referring only to GNU's lower-level system packages.

Don't know. But amazingly

Learning something new every day.

it depends on what you want to describe.
of course it's Linux.
I usually use the term GNU/Linux when I want to stress that it's not only about the kernel, but about a free software philosophy and development with a long history and - erm, well - tradition, and loads of software conforming to that.
which is usually "as opposed to Android and all the other unspeakable things various greedy bodies have done to Linux".

http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html#always
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/gnu-users-nev...rd-of-gnu.html
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/why-gnu-linux.html

These links, while a bit lengthy, should help clear it up.

As has been stated, Linux refers specifically to the Kernel, while GNU generally refers to the majority of what you would actually call the OpSys. If you want to split hairs, you could say that only the software officially maintained by the GNU Project constitutes the GNU portion of GNU/Linux. https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/GNU

I have personally taken to using GNU/Linux when talking to others about "Linux." I agree with Richard Stallman's desire to call it GNU/Linux, as it ultimately gives credit to the two primary pools of code that form the general distro(s).

(At least this is how I currently understand the situation)