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1 -*- text -*-
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2 For an order form for all Emacs and FSF distributions deliverable from
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3 the USA, see the file `ORDERS' in this directory (etc/ in the GNU
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4 Emacs distribution or http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html). For a
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5 European order form, see `ORDERS.EUROPE'. For a Japan order form,
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6 see `ORDERS.JAPAN'.
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7
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8 GNU Emacs availability information, October 2000
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9 Copyright (C) 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2000
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10 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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11
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12 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute
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13 verbatim copies of this document provided that the
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14 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved.
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15
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16 GNU Emacs is legally owned by the Free Software Foundation, but we
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17 regard the foundation more as its custodian on behalf of the public.
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18
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19 In the GNU project, when we speak of "free software", this refers to
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20 liberty, not price. Specifically, it refers to the users' freedom to
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21 study, copy, change and improve the software. Sometimes users pay
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22 money for copies of GNU software, and sometimes they get copies at no
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23 charge. But regardless of how they got the software, or whether it
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24 was modified by anyone else along the way, they have the freedom to
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25 copy and change it--those freedoms are what "free software" means.
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26
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27 The precise conditions for copying and modification are stated in the
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28 document "GNU General Public License," a copy of which is required to
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29 be distributed with every copy of GNU Emacs. It is usually in a file
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30 named `COPYING' in the same directory as this file. These conditions
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31 are designed to make sure that everyone who has a copy of GNU Emacs
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32 (including modified versions) has the freedom to redistribute and
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33 change it.
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34
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35 If you do not know anyone to get a copy of GNU Emacs from, you can
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36 order a cd-rom from the Free Software Foundation. We distribute
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37 several Emacs versions. We also distribute nicely typeset copies of
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38 the Emacs user manual, Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, the Emacs
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39 reference card, etc. See file `ORDERS', or visit
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40 http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html.
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41
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42 If you have Internet access, you can copy the latest Emacs
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43 distribution from hosts, such as ftp.gnu.org. There are several ways
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44 to do this; see http://www.gnu.org/software/software.html for more
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45 information.
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46
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47 Emacs has been run on GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and on many
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48 Unix systems, on a variety of types of cpu. It also works on VMS and
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49 on Apollo computers, though with some deficiencies that reflect
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50 problems in these operating systems. See the file `MACHINES' in this
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51 directory (see above) for a full list of machines that GNU Emacs has
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52 been tested on, with machine-specific installation notes and warnings.
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53 There is also an MS-DOS that works on newer MS-DOS machines, and
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54 an MS-Windows and a Mac version.
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55
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56 Note that there is significant variation between Unix systems
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57 supposedly running the same version of Unix; it is possible that what
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58 works in GNU Emacs for me does not work on your system due to such an
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59 incompatibility. Since I must avoid reading Unix source code, I
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60 cannot even guess what such problems may exist.
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61
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62 GNU Emacs is distributed with no warranty (see the General Public
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63 License for full details, in the file `COPYING' in this directory (see
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64 above)), and neither I nor the Free Software Foundation promises any
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65 kind of support or assistance to users. The foundation keeps a list
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66 of people who are willing to offer support and assistance for hire.
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67 See http://www.gnu.org/help/gethelp.html.
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68
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69 However, we plan to continue to improve GNU Emacs and keep it
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70 reliable, so please send me any complaints and suggestions you have.
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71 I will probably fix anything that I consider a malfunction. I may
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72 make improvements that are suggested, but I may choose not to.
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73
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74 If you are on the Internet, report bugs to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org. You
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75 can use the Emacs command M-x report-bug RET to mail a bug report.
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76 Please read the Bugs section of the Emacs manual before reporting
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77 bugs.
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78
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79 General questions about the GNU Project can be asked of gnu@gnu.org.
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80
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81 If you are a computer manufacturer, I encourage you to ship a copy of
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82 GNU Emacs with every computer you deliver. The same copying
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83 permission terms apply to computer manufacturers as to everyone else.
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84 You should consider making a donation to help support the GNU project;
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85 if you estimate what it would cost to distribute some commercial
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86 product and divide it by five, that is a good amount.
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87
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88 If you like GNU Emacs, please express your satisfaction with a
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89 donation: send me or the Foundation what you feel Emacs has been worth
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90 to you. If you are glad that I developed GNU Emacs and distribute it
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91 as freeware, rather than following the obstructive and antisocial
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92 practices typical of software developers, reward me. If you would
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93 like the Foundation to develop more free software, contribute.
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94
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95 Your donations will help to support the development of additional GNU
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96 software. GNU/Linux systems (variants of GNU, based on the kernel
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97 Linux) have millions of users, but there is still much to be done.
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98 For more information on GNU, see the file `GNU' in this directory (see
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99 above).
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100
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101 Richard M Stallman
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102 Chief GNUisance,
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103 President of the Free Software Foundation
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