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		     Linux and the GNU system

The GNU project started in 1984 with the goal of developing a complete
free Unix-like operating system: GNU.  "Free" refers to freedom, not
price; 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 some
components already available as free software--for example, X Windows
and TeX.  We obtained other components by helping to convince their
developers to make them free--for example, the Berkeley network
utilities.  This left many missing components that we had to write in
order to produce GNU--for example, GNU Emacs, the GNU C compiler, the
GNU C library, Bash, and Ghostscript.  The GNU system consists of all
these components together.

The GNU project is not just about developing and distributing some
useful free software.  The heart of the GNU project is an idea: that
software should be free, that software users should have freedom to
participate in a community.  To run your computer, you need an
operating system; if it is not free, your freedom has been denied.  To
have freedom, you need a free operating system.  We therefore set out
to write one.

In the long run, though, we cannot expect to keep the free operating
system free unless the users are aware of the freedom it gives them,
and value that freedom.  People who do not appreciate their freedom
will not keep it long.  If we want to make freedom last, we need to
spread 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 people
encounter GNU programs or the GNU system and start to use them, they
also think about the GNU idea.  The software shows that the idea can
work 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 from
the idea.

Early on in the development of GNU, various parts of it became popular
even though users needed proprietary systems to run them on.  Porting
the system to many systems and maintaining them required a lot of
work.  After that work, most GNU software is easily configured for a
variety of different platforms.

By 1991, we had found or written all of the essential major components
of the system except the kernel, which we were writing.  (This kernel
consists of the Mach microkernel plus the GNU HURD.  The first test
release was made in 1996.  Now, in 2002, it is running well, and
Hurd-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, who
released it under the GNU General Public License.  He did not write
this kernel for GNU, but it fit into the gap in GNU.  The combination
of GNU and Linux included all the major essential components of a
Unix-compatible operating system.  Other people, with some work made
the combination into a usable system.  The principal use of Linux, the
kernel, is as part of this combination.

The popularity of the GNU/Linux combination is success, in the sense
of popularity, for GNU.  Ironically, the popularity of GNU/Linux
undermines our method of communicating the ideas of GNU to people who
use GNU.

When GNU programs were only usable individually on top of another
operating system, installing and using them meant knowing and
appreciating these programs, and thus being aware of GNU, which led
people to think about the philosophical base of GNU.  Now users can
install a unified operating system which is basically GNU, but they
usually think these are "Linux systems".  At first impression, a
"Linux system" sounds like something completely distinct from the "GNU
system," and that is what most users think.

This leads many users to identify themselves as a separate community
of "Linux users", distinct from the GNU user community.  They use more
than just some GNU programs, they use almost all of the GNU system,
but they don't think of themselves as GNU users.  Often they never
hear about the GNU idea; if they do, they may not think it relates to
them.

Most introductions to the "Linux system" acknowledge that GNU software
components play a role in it, but they don't say that the system as a
whole is a modified version of the GNU system that the GNU project has
been developing and compiling since Linus Torvalds was in junior high
school.  They don't say that the main reason this free operating
exists is that the GNU Project worked persistently to achieve its goal
of freedom.

As a result, most users don't know these things.  They believe that
the "Linux system" was developed by Linus Torvalds "just for fun", and
that their freedom is a matter of good fortune rather than the
dedicated pursuit of freedom.  This creates a danger that they will
leave the survival of free software to fortune as well.

Since human beings tend to correct their first impressions less than
called for by additional information they learn later, these users
will tend to continue to underestimate their connection to GNU even if
they do learn the facts.

When we began trying to support the GNU/Linux system, we found this
widespread misinformation led to a practical problem--it hampered
cooperation on software maintenance.  Normally when users change a GNU
program to make it work better on a particular system, they send the
change to the maintainer of that program; then they work with the
maintainer, explaining the change, arguing for it, and sometimes
rewriting it for the sake of the overall coherence and maintainability
of the package, to get the patch installed.  But people who thought of
themselves as "Linux users" showed a tendency to release a forked
"Linux-only" version of the GNU program and consider the job done.  In
some cases we had to redo their work in order to make GNU programs run
as released in GNU/Linux systems.

How should the GNU project encourage its users to cooperate?  How
should we spread the idea that freedom for computer users is
important?

We must continue to talk about the freedom to share and change
software--and to teach other users to value these freedoms.  If we
value having a free operating system, it makes sense to think about
preserving those freedoms for the long term.  If we value having a
variety of free software, it makes sense to think about encouraging
others to write free software, instead of proprietary software.

However, it is not enough just to talk about freedom; we must also
make sure people know the reasons it is worth listening to what we
say.

Long explanations such as our philosophical articles are one way of
informing the public, but you may not want to spend so much time on
the matter.  The most effective way you can help with a small amount
of work is simply by using the terms "Linux-based GNU system" or
"GNU/Linux system", instead of "Linux system," when you write about or
mention such a system.  Seeing these terms will show many people the
reason to pay attention to our philosophical articles.

The system as a whole is more GNU than Linux; the name "GNU/Linux" is
fair.  When you are choosing the name of a distribution or a user
group, a name with "GNU/Linux" will reflect both roots of the combined
system, and will bring users into connection with both--including the
spirit of freedom and community that is the basis and purpose of GNU.


Copyright 1996, 2002 Richard Stallman
Verbatim copying and redistribution is permitted
without royalty as long as this notice is preserved.
author	Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
date	Wed, 11 Oct 2006 06:47:35 +0000
parents	23a1cea22d13
children