[robocat]

Your argument seems to imply that GNU was the progenitor of the utilities. A quick sample of the first 10 utilities from the first column of http://maizure.org/projects/decoded-gnu-coreutils/ on my machine showed 80% of the utilities were copied from existing sh utilities. Sure, GNU has added features, but there is nothing unseemly about creating new utilities using a different licence that are largely compatible - that is exactly how GNU coreutils came to life in the 90s.

arch - GNU

chgrp - Descended from chgrp introduced in Version 6 UNIX (1975)

comm - Descended from comm in Version 2 UNIX (1972)

dd - Descended from dd introduced in Version 5 UNIX (1974)

du - Descended from du introduced in Version 1 UNIX (1971)

factor - Descended from sort in Version 4 UNIX (1973)

head - Descended from head included in System V (1985)

join - Descended from join introduced in Version 7 UNIX (1979)

ls - Spiritually linked with LISTF from CTSS (1963)

mktemp - GNU

[anamexis]

Where does their argument imply that GNU was the progenitor of those utilites?

[augusto-moura]

I think he/she commented on the wrong parent comment, it makes a lot more sense about the current top comment