GNU variants

[6][7][2] GNU users usually obtain their operating system by downloading GNU distributions, which are available for a wide variety of systems ranging from embedded devices (for example, LibreCMC) and personal computers (for example, Debian GNU/Hurd) to powerful supercomputers (for example, Rocks Cluster Distribution).

Among the open issues are incomplete implementation of Java and X.org graphical user interfaces and limited hardware driver support.

Their goal is to provide an Arch-like user environment (BSD-style init scripts, pacman package manager, rolling releases, and a simple set up) on the GNU Hurd, which is stable enough for at least occasional use.

Such distributions are the primary installed base of GNU packages and programs and also of Linux.

No official release of this operating system was made; although work was conducted on ports for the IA-32[18] and DEC Alpha[19] architectures, it has not seen active maintenance since 2002 and is no longer available for download.

[22] Nexenta OS is not considered a GNU variant, due to the use of OpenSolaris libc.

[23] The Cygwin project is an actively-developed compatibility layer in the form of a C library providing a substantial part of the POSIX API functionality for Windows, as well as a distribution of GNU and other Unix-like programs for such an ecosystem.