Linux and the GNU systemThe GNU project started in 1984 with the goal of developing a completefree Unix-like operating system: GNU. "Free" refers to freedom, notprice; it means you are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change,and improve the software.A Unix-like system consists of many different programs. We found somecomponents already available as free software--for example, X Windowsand TeX. We obtained other components by helping to convince theirdevelopers to make them free--for example, the Berkeley networkutilities. This left many missing components that we had to write inorder to produce GNU--for example, GNU Emacs, the GNU C compiler, theGNU C library, Bash, and Ghostscript. The GNU system consists of allthese components together.The GNU project is not just about developing and distributing someuseful free software. The heart of the GNU project is an idea: thatsoftware should be free, that software users should have freedom toparticipate in a community. To run your computer, you need anoperating system; if it is not free, your freedom has been denied. Tohave freedom, you need a free operating system. We therefore set outto write one.In the long run, though, we cannot expect to keep the free operatingsystem free unless the users are aware of the freedom it gives them,and value that freedom. People who do not appreciate their freedomwill not keep it long. If we want to make freedom last, we need tospread awareness of the freedoms they have in free software.The GNU project's method is that free software and the idea of users'freedom support each other. We develop GNU software, and as peopleencounter GNU programs or the GNU system and start to use them, theyalso think about the GNU idea. The software shows that the idea canwork in practice. Some of these people come to agree with the idea,and then they are more likely to write additional free software.Thus, the software embodies the idea, spreads the idea, and grows fromthe idea.Early on in the development of GNU, various parts of it became populareven though users needed proprietary systems to run them on. Portingthe system to many systems and maintaining them required a lot ofwork. After that work, most GNU software is easily configured for avariety of different platforms.By 1991, we had found or written all of the essential major componentsof the system except the kernel, which we were writing. (This kernelconsists of the Mach microkernel plus the GNU HURD. The first testrelease was made in 1996. Now, in 2002, it is running well, andHurd-based GNU systems are starting to be used.)That was the situation when Linux came into being. Linux is a kernel,like the kernel of Unix; it was written by Linus Torvalds, whoreleased it under the GNU General Public License. He did not writethis kernel for GNU, but it fit into the gap in GNU. The combinationof GNU and Linux included all the major essential components of aUnix-compatible operating system. Other people, with some work madethe combination into a usable system. The principal use of Linux, thekernel, is as part of this combination.The popularity of the GNU/Linux combination is success, in the senseof popularity, for GNU. Ironically, the popularity of GNU/Linuxundermines our method of communicating the ideas of GNU to people whouse GNU.When GNU programs were only usable individually on top of anotheroperating system, installing and using them meant knowing andappreciating these programs, and thus being aware of GNU, which ledpeople to think about the philosophical base of GNU. Now users caninstall a unified operating system which is basically GNU, but theyusually think these are "Linux systems". At first impression, a"Linux system" sounds like something completely distinct from the "GNUsystem," and that is what most users think.This leads many users to identify themselves as a separate communityof "Linux users", distinct from the GNU user community. They use morethan just some GNU programs, they use almost all of the GNU system,but they don't think of themselves as GNU users. Often they neverhear about the GNU idea; if they do, they may not think it relates tothem.Most introductions to the "Linux system" acknowledge that GNU softwarecomponents play a role in it, but they don't say that the system as awhole is a modified version of the GNU system that the GNU project hasbeen developing and compiling since Linus Torvalds was in junior highschool. They don't say that the main reason this free operatingexists is that the GNU Project worked persistently to achieve its goalof freedom.As a result, most users don't know these things. They believe thatthe "Linux system" was developed by Linus Torvalds "just for fun", andthat their freedom is a matter of good fortune rather than thededicated pursuit of freedom. This creates a danger that they willleave the survival of free software to fortune as well.Since human beings tend to correct their first impressions less thancalled for by additional information they learn later, these userswill tend to continue to underestimate their connection to GNU even ifthey do learn the facts.When we began trying to support the GNU/Linux system, we found thiswidespread misinformation led to a practical problem--it hamperedcooperation on software maintenance. Normally when users change a GNUprogram to make it work better on a particular system, they send thechange to the maintainer of that program; then they work with themaintainer, explaining the change, arguing for it, and sometimesrewriting it for the sake of the overall coherence and maintainabilityof the package, to get the patch installed. But people who thought ofthemselves as "Linux users" showed a tendency to release a forked"Linux-only" version of the GNU program and consider the job done. Insome cases we had to redo their work in order to make GNU programs runas released in GNU/Linux systems.How should the GNU project encourage its users to cooperate? Howshould we spread the idea that freedom for computer users isimportant?We must continue to talk about the freedom to share and changesoftware--and to teach other users to value these freedoms. If wevalue having a free operating system, it makes sense to think aboutpreserving those freedoms for the long term. If we value having avariety of free software, it makes sense to think about encouragingothers to write free software, instead of proprietary software.However, it is not enough just to talk about freedom; we must alsomake sure people know the reasons it is worth listening to what wesay.Long explanations such as our philosophical articles are one way ofinforming the public, but you may not want to spend so much time onthe matter. The most effective way you can help with a small amountof work is simply by using the terms "Linux-based GNU system" or"GNU/Linux system", instead of "Linux system," when you write about ormention such a system. Seeing these terms will show many people thereason to pay attention to our philosophical articles.The system as a whole is more GNU than Linux; the name "GNU/Linux" isfair. When you are choosing the name of a distribution or a usergroup, a name with "GNU/Linux" will reflect both roots of the combinedsystem, and will bring users into connection with both--including thespirit of freedom and community that is the basis and purpose of GNU.Copyright 1996, 2002 Richard StallmanVerbatim copying and redistribution is permittedwithout royalty as long as this notice is preserved.