GNU variants(GNU 變種)是一個自由軟件基金會提出的概念,指使用来自GNU的應用軟件及函式庫(即“用户态”)的操作系统。它的內核不一定是GNU Hurd。.[1][2]
Many computer users run a modified version of the GNU system every day, without realizing it. Through a peculiar turn of events, the version of GNU which is widely used today is more often known as “Linux”, and many users are not aware of the extent of its connection with the GNU Project. There really is a Linux, and these people are using it, but it is not the operating system. Linux is the kernel: the program in the system that allocates the machine's resources to the other programs that you run.
Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux.