The name GNU is a recursive acronym. The GNU tools are a collection of programs that are implemented by providing basic functions (e.g. list files: ls) transform a computer with Linux into a usable system. Richard Stallman (german) created this collection and distributed it under a free license - the GPL. Thanks to it, interested parties have a complete toolbox at their disposal.
GNU tools are scriptable, as are the resulting scripts themselves. So with a few steps new programs can be created, which are the origin of other newer programs.
Strictly speaking, the following programs are not necessarily part of the GNU software. What they all have in common is the free license and *nix-like linking options.
Counts | GNU Tool (2020-02-25) |
---|---|
1680 | echo |
744 | cut |
535 | grep |
346 | test |
277 | sed |
256 | bash |
252 | tr |
238 | rm |
185 | dirname |
166 | pwd |
123 | sort |
110 | convert |
97 | bc |
96 | cat |
89 | head |
79 | tail |
79 | date |
72 | readlink |
71 | wc |
55 | uniq |
53 | printf |
48 | sleep |
46 | |
43 | mv |
42 | mkdir |
42 | gnuplot |
40 | composite |
37 | paste |
37 | awk |
36 | g++ |
33 | lsb_release |
33 | dpkg |
29 | basename |
27 | file |
26 | ls |
25 | tee |
24 | screen |
23 | find |
22 | size |
20 | chmod |
19 | identify |
18 | join |
15 | iptables |
15 | cp |
12 | w |
12 | touch |
11 | wget |
10 | espeak-ng |
9 | ffmpeg |
9 | feh |
9 | cryptsetup |
8 | kill |
7 | ps |
7 | links2 |
7 | killall |
6 | mount |
6 | gunzip |
5 | zbarimg |
5 | pdftotext |
5 | pdflatex |
5 | mplayer |
5 | factor |
5 | beep |
5 | barcode |
4 | true |
4 | tar |
4 | su |
4 | stty |
4 | scanimage |
4 | reem |
4 | pdftk |
4 | pdfjoin |
4 | modprobe |
4 | ministat |
4 | make |
4 | jackd |
4 | inkscape |
4 | init |
4 | gpg |
3 | zita-j2n |
3 | zenity |
3 | xdotool |
3 | sync |
3 | swapon |
3 | sha512sum |
3 | pdfinfo |
3 | install |
3 | iconv |
3 | host |
3 | gzip |
3 | du |
3 | dmidecode |
3 | dbus-launch |
3 | clear |
3 | chrt |
2 | xxd |
2 | xterm |
2 | xte |
2 | xset |
2 | xmousepos |
2 | xclip |
2 | xauth |
2 | view |
2 | timeout |
2 | systemctl |
2 | stream |
2 | sox |
2 | slock |
2 | rec |
2 | ps2txt |
2 | ping |
2 | openssl |
2 | net |
2 | ncat |
2 | ncal |
2 | md5sum |
2 | losetup |
2 | hostname |
2 | doc2pdf |
2 | dd |
2 | cal |
1 | zita-n2j |
1 | zip |
1 | zbarcam |
1 | xwininfo |
1 | xrandr |
1 | wmctrl |
1 | visgrep |
1 | unoconv |
1 | tesseract |
1 | tac |
1 | sshd |
1 | ssh |
1 | socat |
1 | see |
1 | qrencode |
1 | pspp |
1 | ps2pdf |
1 | png2pat |
1 | play |
1 | pager |
1 | nl |
1 | mpv |
1 | more |
1 | mimetype |
1 | lsof |
1 | less |
1 | ip |
1 | inotifywait |
1 | ifup |
1 | gs |
1 | ghostscript |
1 | geoiplookup |
1 | gcc |
1 | firefox-esr |
1 | firefox |
1 | ffplay |
1 | evtest |
1 | enscript |
1 | enchant |
1 | dot |
1 | df |
1 | curl |
Well, there's not too much uuoc.