In picking the date for the Linux10 celebration, we selected August 25. That was the date in 1991 when Linus Torvalds posted an article in comp.os.minix saying his new experimental kernel was running bash and gcc, and he was going to post the source code soon. Though it's impossible to pick a given day that Linux started, this is generally accepted as when the project reached critical mass. This was also the message that got others besides Linus interested in the project.

From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: What would you like to see most in minix?
Summary: small poll for my new operating system
Message-ID: <1991Aug25.205708.9541@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT
Organization: University of Helsinki

Hello everybody out there using minix -
I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and
professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing
since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on
things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat
(same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons)
among other things).
I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work.
This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and
I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions
are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)
Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)
PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs.
It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never
will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

Links to Linux history pages:

• Linux 0.01 kernel sources, September 1991
• All Linux kernel releases from 0.01 to current
• Linux History at Linux International
• Linux: Its history and current distributions at IBM
• First detractor of Linux: Professor Tannenbaum, author of Minix
  • "Linux is obsolete", January 29, 1992
• A Complete History of Tux. (So Far) by Steve Baker
• The Linux Trademark suit (1996-1997)
  Though this has been tried again in other countries, the definitive case over the trademark on "Linux" happenned after an individual named William R Della Croce, Jr of Massachussets fraudulently trademarked the name "Linux", claiming he had made the first use of the name in 1994. Nobody noticed until he sent threatening letters to WGS of Aurora, CO (Linux Mall), Yggdrasil of San Jose, CA (first maker of a Linux distribution on CD) and others. The Linux community provided ample evidence that this was not true. The resulting lawsuit was settled with the trademark being assigned to Linus Torvalds.
  • "Is Linux trademarked?", Linux Journal, Nov 1996
  • Petition to cancel trademark
  • "Action Taken on Linux Trademark", Linux Journal, Mar 1997
  • "Linux Trademark Dispute", Linux Journal, Aug 1997
  • "Ownership of Linux Trademark Resolved", Linux Journal, Nov 1997
• Linux newsgroups
  • comp.os.linux
    proposed April 1992 by Ari Lemmke, passed
    The voting results are missing from this file. The moderator's recordkeeping got better later on.
    votetaker: Ari Lemmke
  • First comp.os.linux reorganization
    proposed Sept 1992 Ian Jackson, comp.os.linux.announce passed, all others failed
    A group of FidoNet BBS sysops saw this proposal as a threat to their news-to-FidoNet gateway and urged people to vote "no". They succeeded in killing 3 of the proposed newsgroups. But the story wasn't over...
    votetaker: Ian Jackson
  • Second comp.os.linux reorganization
    proposed June 1993 Lars Wirzenius, all groups passed
    Following the defeat of the previous comp.os.linux reorg proposal, the Linux community didn't take the results for granted this time. With over 1800 votes cast, all the groups passed by a 20:1 margin, setting a new record at the time for the most votes cast for a non-controversial newsgroup vote. (100-200 was a normal turnout for the time.) This was also the first vote handled by the UseNet Volunteer Votetakers (UVV) organization - prior to this, proponents ran their own votes since there weren't enough volunteers to split the tasks.
    votetaker: Ian Kluft
  • Third comp.os.linux reorganization
    proposed September 1994 by Dave Sill, all groups passed
    votetakers: Ian Kluft and Patrick Horgan
  • comp.os.linux.m68k
    proposed Nov 1995 by Chris Lawrence, passed
    votetaker: Steve Bonine
  • comp.os.linux.alpha
    proposed April 1997 by David Mosberger, passed
    votetaker: David Bostwick
  • comp.os/.linux.powerpc
    proposed June 1997 by Shimpei Yamashita, passed
    votetaker: Rebecca McQuitty
  • comp.os.linux.portable
    proposed July 1998 by Jacek Pliszka, Dan Birchall, and Neil Zanella, passed
    votetaker: Dave Cornejo
  • comp.os.linux.security
    proposed January 1999 by Erik de Castro Lopo
    votetaker: Jeremy Billones
  • comp.os.linux.embedded
    proposed March 2000 by John Peterson, passed
    votetaker: Dave Cornejo