GNU tools
Introduction
The GNU Project, initiated by Stallman in 1983, is a free software, mass collaboration project. The primary emphasis of the GNU Project was the development of the GNU operating system. This operating system is a comprehensive collection of free software, which includes among other things a kernel, an editor and a compiler. It is this compiler that is the base of the GNU tools.
GNU Tools
The GNU tools are a part of the GNU Project and consist of a collection of free software tools, which are used in combination with a Unix-like operating system. These tools are designed to be portable and run on many different hardware platforms. The GNU tools include, among others, the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), the GNU Binary Utilities (Binutils), the GNU Debugger (GDB), and the GNU build system (Autotools).
GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)
The GCC is a set of compilers produced for various programming languages by the GNU Project. GCC is a key component of the GNU toolchain and has played a major role in the growth of free software, as both a tool and an example.
GCC originally stood for "GNU C Compiler", as it only handled the C programming language. It was later extended to compile C++, Fortran, Ada, and others. GCC is notable for being released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and for being portable across many platforms.
GNU Binary Utilities (Binutils)
The GNU Binary Utilities, or Binutils, is a set of programming tools for creating and managing binary programs. The tools include an assembler (as), a linker (ld), a binary file dumper (objdump), a binary file editor (objcopy), and others. These tools are essential for the development of operating systems and large scale software.
GNU Debugger (GDB)
The GDB is a portable debugger that runs on many Unix-like systems and works for many programming languages, including Ada, C, C++, Objective-C, Free Pascal, Fortran, Go and partially others. GDB was first written by Richard Stallman in 1986 as part of his GNU system, after his GNU Emacs was "sufficiently stable". GDB is free software released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
GNU build system (Autotools)
The GNU build system, also known as the Autotools, is a suite of programming tools designed to assist in making source code packages portable to many Unix-like systems. Autotools consists of the GNU utility programs Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool. Autotools is part of the GNU toolchain and is widely used in many free software and open source packages.
Conclusion
The GNU tools are a vital part of the GNU Project and have played a significant role in the development of free software. They provide a robust, flexible and free set of tools for software developers, allowing them to create software that is portable across many different systems. The GNU tools are a testament to the power of free software and the impact of the GNU Project.