<i>&quot;When you build a house, you use many tools: hammers, saws, drills, etc. When the house is complete, do you call that a Craftsman&#x2F;House, a Makita&#x2F;House, or a Home Depot&#x2F;House? Of course you don&#x27;t, because that would be stupid. We don&#x27;t name things after the tools we use to build them; we name things in ways that make sense because they describe the whole of the thing clearly and completely.&quot;</i><p>This analogy is flawed. The GNU tools (gcc, bash, ls, cat, etc.) aren&#x27;t just used to build the Linux kernel, they&#x27;re <i>distributed</i> along with the Linux kernel and are essential to anyone who wants to actually use Linux to do useful work. If I gave you a Linux kernel without these tools, it would be completely useless for everyday tasks. Perhaps a standalone kernel could run a device like a microwave oven or a router, where the user doesn&#x27;t need to directly interact with the file system, but if you want to run Linux on your server or laptop, you&#x27;re going to need bash, ls, etc.<p>In contrast, a house builder does not give you their tools along with the house, and most people live happily in their houses without knowing the first thing about how to use a power tool.