Larry the Cow

Larry in his younger years wearing designer suede hoofs.

Larry the Cow is one of Gentoo's unofficial mascots. He was first unveiled on the Gentoo Forums by a user called Nefarius.

Why is Larry an unofficial mascot? Great question!

Appearances

Here on the wiki the occasional use of Larry's name can be used as a substitute when needed.

Using Larry's name for this purpose is beneficial for a few reasons:

1. It helps establish a consistent style for readers and editors to keep in mind. Individual contributors now have knowledge of a user name that is readily available for command examples. They will use this name when writing a template that has a field requiring a user name. See the example below;
2. Using Larry's name in appropriate places helps the Wiki's documentation feel more comprehensive. Many readers enjoy humor and Easter eggs. Gentoo is not Funtoo, but that does not mean it cannot be fun to read the Wiki!
3. It helps Mr. Larry feel more included. Instead of feeling lonely, like he has been off in the pasture all by himself for days, he feels special because people are reading his name more often.

For example, for style points and to help Larry feel included, the gpasswd command could be used with Larry's name and an example group instead of simply <user> and <group>:

root #gpasswd -a <user> <group>

vs.

root #gpasswd -a larry wheel

Both could work. One method is not better than the other. But the latter method gets more style points.

Controversies

In the past there have been controversies over Larry the Cow's title. Since Larry is a male (he has no udders) he should properly be called "Larry the Bull". A bug was filed for this inconsistency, however it was decided to take no action. The Gentoo community lives and must live with the results.

See also

• User:Larry - Larry's user space page. This page is a demo of the User page article blueprint.
• Official Larry the Cow artwork - Provided by the Artwork project.

External resources

• Unveiling of Larry the Cow (Forums)