Really the whole GNU/Linux stallman copypasta is because Stallman felt like he wasn't getting enough credit for the Linux phenomena, back in the early aughts. It was Linux this, Linux that, and the userland (which is provided by GNU) didn't get enough credit, in his mind. Which, fair point. But, the problem is that Stallman fell flat on his face when it came to communicating how GNU provided a lot of value and how it would be nice to get more attribution. It comes off as pedantic and sour grapes.
As others have pointed out, there are other userlands out there (busybox, etc) and other C libraries that can be basis of an operating system. But, I still think Stallman should get a lot of credit for the work he did in the 80's and 90s, advocating for the idea of Free Software. It was revolutionary and changed the world.
Really the whole GNU/Linux stallman copypasta is because Stallman felt like he wasn't getting enough credit for the Linux phenomena, back in the early aughts. It was Linux this, Linux that, and the userland (which is provided by GNU) didn't get enough credit, in his mind. Which, fair point. But, the problem is that Stallman fell flat on his face when it came to communicating how GNU provided a lot of value and how it would be nice to get more attribution. It comes off as pedantic and sour grapes.
As others have pointed out, there are other userlands out there (busybox, etc) and other C libraries that can be basis of an operating system. But, I still think Stallman should get a lot of credit for the work he did in the 80's and 90s, advocating for the idea of Free Software. It was revolutionary and changed the world.
But, we don't have to excuse bad behavior.