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An
Overview of the GNU Project
Contributors:
Free Software Foundation; Forward: AbleStable®
Forward
The
GNU Project aims to provide free software for all.
This article outlines the background and principles
of The Free Software Foundation (FSF) who are responsible
for the GNU Project. The FSF's Documentation
License is also available at AbleStable®
for reference.
The
GNU Project
The
GNU Project has developed a complete free software
system named ''GNU'' (GNU's Not Unix) that is upwardly
compatible with UNIX Richard Stallman's initial document
on the GNU Project is called the GNU Manifesto, which
has been translated into several other languages.
The Initial Announcement of the GNU Project was written
in 1983 and is available at www.gnu.org.
The word ''free'' above pertains to freedom, not price.
You may or may not pay a price to get GNU software.
Either way, once you have the software you have three
specific freedoms in using it.
•
the
freedom to copy the program and give
it away to your friends and co-workers
•
the
freedom to change the program as you
wish, by having full access to source
code
•
the
freedom to distribute an improved version
and thus help build the community |
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(If you redistribute GNU software, you may charge
a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy,
or you may give away copies.)
The GNU Project was conceived in 1983 as a way of
bringing back the co-operative spirit that prevailed
in the computing community in earlier days, and to
make co-operation possible once again by removing
the obstacles to co-operation imposed by the owners
of proprietary software.
In 1971, when Richard Stallman started his career
at MIT, he worked in a group which used free software
exclusively. Even computer companies often distributed
free software. Programmers were free to co-operate
with each other, and often did.
By the 1980s, almost all software was proprietary,
which means that it had owners who forbid and prevent
co-operation by users. This made the GNU Project necessary.
Every computer user needs an operating system; if
there is no free operating system, then you can't
even get started using a computer without resorting
to proprietary software. So the first item on the
free software agenda is a free operating system.
An operating system is not just a kernel; it also
includes compilers, editors, text formatters, mail
software, and many other things. Thus, writing a whole
operating system is a very large job. It took many
years.
Those at The Free Software Foundation decided to make
the operating system compatible with UNIX because
the overall design was already proven and portable,
and because compatibility makes it easy for UNIX users
to switch from UNIX to GNU.
The initial goal of a free UNIX-like operating system
has been achieved. By the 1990s, we had either found
or written all the major components except one: the
kernel. Then Linux, a free kernel, was developed by
Linus Torvalds. Combining Linux with the almost-complete
GNU system resulted in a complete operating system:
a Linux-based GNU system. Estimates are that hundreds
of thousands of people now use Linux-based GNU systems,
including Slackware, Debian, Red Hat, and others.
However, the GNU Project is not limited to operating
systems. The Free Software Foundation aims to provide
a whole spectrum of software, whatever many users
want to have. This includes application software.
The FSF has a spreadsheet, and they hope to extend
GNU Emacs into a WYSIWYG desktop publishing system
over the coming years.
The FSF also wants to provide software for users who
are not computer experts. Therefore they are now working
on a drag-and-drop icon desktop to help beginners
use the GNU system.
The FSF also wants to provide games and other recreations,
and some free games are already available under the
GNU Project.
The ultimate goal of the FSF is to provide free software
to do all of the jobs computer users want to do, and
thus make proprietary software obsolete.
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background |
Free Software Foundation (FSF) & GNU inquiries
and questions: email gnu@gnu.org.
Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001 Free
Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place -
Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire
article is permitted in any medium, provided
this notice is preserved.
If
you observe inaccuracies or wish to contribute
an article or review to be included at AbleStable®
visit Feedback.
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AbleStable © 2002-2008 |
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Material: AbleStable © 2002-2008 |
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