1.4.1 What is the GNUstep Base Library?

The GNUstep Base Library is a library of general-purpose, non-graphical Objective C objects. For example, it includes classes for strings, object collections, byte streams, typed coders, invocations, notifications, notification dispatchers, moments in time, network ports, remote object messaging support (distributed objects), and event loops.

It provides functionality that aims to implement the non-graphical portion of the OpenStep standard (the Foundation library).