Mercurial > emacs
annotate etc/LINUX-GNU @ 88054:eae3aec0f807
2008-01-29 John Wiegley <johnw@newartisans.com>
* url-auth.el (url-digest-auth): If the 'opaque' argument is not
being used, don't add it to the response text. Also, changed an
if so that the interaction between the PROMPT and OVERWRITE
arguments can no longer result in the user being queried twice for
the same login and password information.
author | John Wiegley <johnw@newartisans.com> |
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date | Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:52:05 +0000 (2008-01-29) |
parents | 23a1cea22d13 |
children |
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 | |
49600
23a1cea22d13
Trailing whitespace deleted.
Juanma Barranquero <lekktu@gmail.com>
parents:
47115
diff
changeset
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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 |