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Is *nix a formal term?
How can one differentiate what is or is not a *nix operating system even if that operating system (or its core/shell/common-utilities) allegedly behaves like any "other" *nix operating system?
Is *nix a formal term (and if so what are its borders)?
1 answer
The term is cultural, not technical. From Wikipedia:
There is no standard for defining the term, and some difference of opinion is possible as to the degree to which a given operating system or application is "Unix-like".
There do exist standards, most notably the various POSIX standards and the Single UNIX Specification, which can be used as a rough gauge for whether a system is Unix-like. But an OS doesn't have to conform perfectly to those standards to be considered a *nix. Conversely, compatibility layers that implement those standards can be implemented for OSes that are generally not considered *nices.
Ultimately, like many cultural terms, the real definition of a *nix is something that is similar enough, in whatever ways matter most in context, to all the other things that we call *nices.
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