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annotate etc/LINUX-GNU @ 97349:71b3b925a155
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author | Dan Nicolaescu <dann@ics.uci.edu> |
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date | Thu, 07 Aug 2008 05:21:28 +0000 |
parents | 23a1cea22d13 |
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rev | line source |
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26119 | 1 Linux and the GNU system |
2 | |
47105 | 3 The GNU project started in 1984 with the goal of developing a complete |
4 free Unix-like operating system: GNU. "Free" refers to freedom, not | |
5 price; it means you are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, | |
6 and improve the software. | |
26119 | 7 |
8 A Unix-like system consists of many different programs. We found some | |
9 components already available as free software--for example, X Windows | |
10 and TeX. We obtained other components by helping to convince their | |
11 developers to make them free--for example, the Berkeley network | |
47105 | 12 utilities. This left many missing components that we had to write in |
13 order to produce GNU--for example, GNU Emacs, the GNU C compiler, the | |
14 GNU C library, Bash, and Ghostscript. The GNU system consists of all | |
15 these components together. | |
26119 | 16 |
17 The GNU project is not just about developing and distributing some | |
18 useful free software. The heart of the GNU project is an idea: that | |
47105 | 19 software should be free, that software users should have freedom to |
20 participate in a community. To run your computer, you need an | |
21 operating system; if it is not free, your freedom has been denied. To | |
22 have freedom, you need a free operating system. We therefore set out | |
23 to write one. | |
24 | |
25 In the long run, though, we cannot expect to keep the free operating | |
26 system free unless the users are aware of the freedom it gives them, | |
27 and value that freedom. People who do not appreciate their freedom | |
28 will not keep it long. If we want to make freedom last, we need to | |
29 spread awareness of the freedoms they have in free software. | |
26119 | 30 |
31 The GNU project's method is that free software and the idea of users' | |
32 freedom support each other. We develop GNU software, and as people | |
33 encounter GNU programs or the GNU system and start to use them, they | |
34 also think about the GNU idea. The software shows that the idea can | |
35 work in practice. Some of these people come to agree with the idea, | |
36 and then they are more likely to write additional free software. | |
37 Thus, the software embodies the idea, spreads the idea, and grows from | |
38 the idea. | |
39 | |
47105 | 40 Early on in the development of GNU, various parts of it became popular |
41 even though users needed proprietary systems to run them on. Porting | |
42 the system to many systems and maintaining them required a lot of | |
43 work. After that work, most GNU software is easily configured for a | |
44 variety of different platforms. | |
26119 | 45 |
47105 | 46 By 1991, we had found or written all of the essential major components |
47 of the system except the kernel, which we were writing. (This kernel | |
48 consists of the Mach microkernel plus the GNU HURD. The first test | |
49 release was made in 1996. Now, in 2002, it is running well, and | |
50 Hurd-based GNU systems are starting to be used.) | |
26119 | 51 |
47105 | 52 That was the situation when Linux came into being. Linux is a kernel, |
53 like the kernel of Unix; it was written by Linus Torvalds, who | |
54 released it under the GNU General Public License. He did not write | |
55 this kernel for GNU, but it fit into the gap in GNU. The combination | |
56 of GNU and Linux included all the major essential components of a | |
57 Unix-compatible operating system. Other people, with some work made | |
58 the combination into a usable system. The principal use of Linux, the | |
59 kernel, is as part of this combination. | |
26119 | 60 |
47105 | 61 The popularity of the GNU/Linux combination is success, in the sense |
62 of popularity, for GNU. Ironically, the popularity of GNU/Linux | |
63 undermines our method of communicating the ideas of GNU to people who | |
64 use GNU. | |
26119 | 65 |
47105 | 66 When GNU programs were only usable individually on top of another |
67 operating system, installing and using them meant knowing and | |
68 appreciating these programs, and thus being aware of GNU, which led | |
69 people to think about the philosophical base of GNU. Now users can | |
70 install a unified operating system which is basically GNU, but they | |
47115 | 71 usually think these are "Linux systems". At first impression, a |
47105 | 72 "Linux system" sounds like something completely distinct from the "GNU |
73 system," and that is what most users think. | |
26119 | 74 |
75 This leads many users to identify themselves as a separate community | |
47105 | 76 of "Linux users", distinct from the GNU user community. They use more |
77 than just some GNU programs, they use almost all of the GNU system, | |
78 but they don't think of themselves as GNU users. Often they never | |
79 hear about the GNU idea; if they do, they may not think it relates to | |
80 them. | |
26119 | 81 |
47105 | 82 Most introductions to the "Linux system" acknowledge that GNU software |
83 components play a role in it, but they don't say that the system as a | |
84 whole is a modified version of the GNU system that the GNU project has | |
85 been developing and compiling since Linus Torvalds was in junior high | |
86 school. They don't say that the main reason this free operating | |
87 exists is that the GNU Project worked persistently to achieve its goal | |
88 of freedom. | |
26119 | 89 |
47105 | 90 As a result, most users don't know these things. They believe that |
91 the "Linux system" was developed by Linus Torvalds "just for fun", and | |
92 that their freedom is a matter of good fortune rather than the | |
93 dedicated pursuit of freedom. This creates a danger that they will | |
94 leave the survival of free software to fortune as well. | |
95 | |
96 Since human beings tend to correct their first impressions less than | |
97 called for by additional information they learn later, these users | |
98 will tend to continue to underestimate their connection to GNU even if | |
99 they do learn the facts. | |
26119 | 100 |
47105 | 101 When we began trying to support the GNU/Linux system, we found this |
102 widespread misinformation led to a practical problem--it hampered | |
103 cooperation on software maintenance. Normally when users change a GNU | |
104 program to make it work better on a particular system, they send the | |
105 change to the maintainer of that program; then they work with the | |
106 maintainer, explaining the change, arguing for it, and sometimes | |
107 rewriting it for the sake of the overall coherence and maintainability | |
108 of the package, to get the patch installed. But people who thought of | |
109 themselves as "Linux users" showed a tendency to release a forked | |
110 "Linux-only" version of the GNU program and consider the job done. In | |
111 some cases we had to redo their work in order to make GNU programs run | |
112 as released in GNU/Linux systems. | |
26119 | 113 |
47105 | 114 How should the GNU project encourage its users to cooperate? How |
115 should we spread the idea that freedom for computer users is | |
116 important? | |
26119 | 117 |
47105 | 118 We must continue to talk about the freedom to share and change |
119 software--and to teach other users to value these freedoms. If we | |
120 value having a free operating system, it makes sense to think about | |
121 preserving those freedoms for the long term. If we value having a | |
122 variety of free software, it makes sense to think about encouraging | |
123 others to write free software, instead of proprietary software. | |
124 | |
125 However, it is not enough just to talk about freedom; we must also | |
126 make sure people know the reasons it is worth listening to what we | |
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Juanma Barranquero <lekktu@gmail.com>
parents:
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127 say. |
26119 | 128 |
47105 | 129 Long explanations such as our philosophical articles are one way of |
130 informing the public, but you may not want to spend so much time on | |
131 the matter. The most effective way you can help with a small amount | |
132 of work is simply by using the terms "Linux-based GNU system" or | |
133 "GNU/Linux system", instead of "Linux system," when you write about or | |
134 mention such a system. Seeing these terms will show many people the | |
135 reason to pay attention to our philosophical articles. | |
136 | |
137 The system as a whole is more GNU than Linux; the name "GNU/Linux" is | |
138 fair. When you are choosing the name of a distribution or a user | |
139 group, a name with "GNU/Linux" will reflect both roots of the combined | |
140 system, and will bring users into connection with both--including the | |
141 spirit of freedom and community that is the basis and purpose of GNU. | |
26119 | 142 |
143 | |
47105 | 144 Copyright 1996, 2002 Richard Stallman |
26119 | 145 Verbatim copying and redistribution is permitted |
146 without royalty as long as this notice is preserved. | |
147 |