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1.1 ! root 1: The GNU Manifesto ! 2: ! 3: Copyright (C) 1985 Richard M. Stallman ! 4: (Copying permission notice at the end.) ! 5: ! 6: What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix! ! 7: ! 8: GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete ! 9: Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it ! 10: away free to everyone who can use it. Several other volunteers are helping ! 11: me. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly ! 12: needed. ! 13: ! 14: So far we have a portable C and Pascal compiler which compiles for Vax and ! 15: 68000 (though needing much rewriting), an Emacs-like text editor with Lisp ! 16: for writing editor commands, a yacc-compatible parser generator, a linker, ! 17: and around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is nearly ! 18: completed. When the kernel and a debugger are written, it will be possible ! 19: to distribute a GNU system suitable for program development. After this we ! 20: will add a text formatter, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of ! 21: other things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually, ! 22: everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more. ! 23: ! 24: GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to Unix. ! 25: We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our experience ! 26: with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to have longer ! 27: filenames, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, filename ! 28: completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and eventually a ! 29: Lisp-based window system through which several Lisp programs and ordinary ! 30: Unix programs can share a screen. Both C and Lisp will be available as ! 31: system programming languages. We will try to support UUCP, MIT Chaosnet, ! 32: and Internet protocols for communication. ! 33: ! 34: GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class, with virtual ! 35: memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run on. The extra ! 36: effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left to someone who wants ! 37: to use it on them. ! 38: ! 39: To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word `GNU' ! 40: when it is the name of this project. ! 41: ! 42: ! 43: Who Am I? ! 44: ! 45: I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original much-imitated EMACS editor, ! 46: formerly at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. I have worked ! 47: extensively on compilers, editors, debuggers, command interpreters, the ! 48: Incompatible Timesharing System and the Lisp Machine operating system. I ! 49: pioneered terminal-independent display support in ITS. Since then I have ! 50: implemented one crashproof file system and two window systems for Lisp ! 51: machines, and designed a third window system now being implemented; this ! 52: one will be ported to many systems including use in GNU. ! 53: ! 54: ! 55: Why I Must Write GNU ! 56: ! 57: I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must ! 58: share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to divide ! 59: the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share with ! 60: others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this way. I ! 61: cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software ! 62: license agreement. For years I worked within the Artificial Intelligence ! 63: Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities, but eventually ! 64: they had gone too far: I could not remain in an institution where such ! 65: things are done for me against my will. ! 66: ! 67: So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have decided to ! 68: put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to ! 69: get along without any software that is not free. I have resigned from the ! 70: AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent me from giving GNU away. ! 71: ! 72: ! 73: Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix ! 74: ! 75: Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential features ! 76: of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what Unix lacks ! 77: without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix would be ! 78: convenient for many other people to adopt. ! 79: ! 80: ! 81: How GNU Will Be Available ! 82: ! 83: GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to modify and ! 84: redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to restrict its ! 85: further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary modifications will not ! 86: be allowed. I want to make sure that all versions of GNU remain free. ! 87: ! 88: ! 89: Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help ! 90: ! 91: I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and want to ! 92: help. ! 93: ! 94: Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system ! 95: software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them to ! 96: feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel as ! 97: comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the ! 98: sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used essentially ! 99: forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The purchaser of software ! 100: must choose between friendship and obeying the law. Naturally, many decide ! 101: that friendship is more important. But those who believe in law often do ! 102: not feel at ease with either choice. They become cynical and think that ! 103: programming is just a way of making money. ! 104: ! 105: By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can be ! 106: hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as an ! 107: example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in sharing. ! 108: This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if we use ! 109: software that is not free. For about half the programmers I talk to, this ! 110: is an important happiness that money cannot replace. ! 111: ! 112: ! 113: How You Can Contribute ! 114: ! 115: I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money. ! 116: I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work. ! 117: ! 118: One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU will run ! 119: on them at an early date. The machines should be complete, ready to use ! 120: systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not in need of ! 121: sophisticated cooling or power. ! 122: ! 123: I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time work for ! 124: GNU. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would be very hard ! 125: to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not work together. ! 126: But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is absent. A ! 127: complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility programs, each of which ! 128: is documented separately. Most interface specifications are fixed by Unix ! 129: compatibility. If each contributor can write a compatible replacement for ! 130: a single Unix utility, and make it work properly in place of the original ! 131: on a Unix system, then these utilities will work right when put together. ! 132: Even allowing for Murphy to create a few unexpected problems, assembling ! 133: these components will be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer ! 134: communication and will be worked on by a small, tight group.) ! 135: ! 136: If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or ! 137: part time. The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but I'm ! 138: looking for people for whom building community spirit is as important as ! 139: making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote ! 140: their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a ! 141: living in another way. ! 142: ! 143: ! 144: Why All Computer Users Will Benefit ! 145: ! 146: Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software ! 147: free, just like air. ! 148: ! 149: This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix license. ! 150: It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will ! 151: be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the ! 152: art. ! 153: ! 154: Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, a user ! 155: who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself, ! 156: or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him. Users ! 157: will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the ! 158: sources and is in sole position to make changes. ! 159: ! 160: Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment by ! 161: encouraging all students to study and improve the system code. Harvard's ! 162: computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be installed on ! 163: the system if its sources were not on public display, and upheld it by ! 164: actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very much inspired by ! 165: this. ! 166: ! 167: Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software and what ! 168: one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted. ! 169: ! 170: Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including licensing of ! 171: copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through the cumbersome ! 172: mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is, which programs) a ! 173: person must pay for. And only a police state can force everyone to obey ! 174: them. Consider a space station where air must be manufactured at great ! 175: cost: charging each breather per liter of air may be fair, but wearing the ! 176: metered gas mask all day and all night is intolerable even if everyone can ! 177: afford to pay the air bill. And the TV cameras everywhere to see if you ! 178: ever take the mask off are outrageous. It's better to support the air ! 179: plant with a head tax and chuck the masks. ! 180: ! 181: Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as ! 182: breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free. ! 183: ! 184: ! 185: Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals ! 186: ! 187: "Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means ! 188: they can't rely on any support." ! 189: "You have to charge for the program ! 190: to pay for providing the support." ! 191: ! 192: If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free without ! 193: service, a company to provide just service to people who have obtained GNU ! 194: free ought to be profitable. ! 195: ! 196: We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming work ! 197: and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on from a ! 198: software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough people, the ! 199: vendor will tell you to get lost. ! 200: ! 201: If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way is to ! 202: have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any available ! 203: person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any individual. ! 204: With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of consideration for most ! 205: businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is still possible for there to ! 206: be no available competent person, but this problem cannot be blamed on ! 207: distibution arrangements. GNU does not eliminate all the world's problems, ! 208: only some of them. ! 209: ! 210: Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need handholding: ! 211: doing things for them which they could easily do themselves but don't know ! 212: how. ! 213: ! 214: Such services could be provided by companies that sell just hand-holding ! 215: and repair service. If it is true that users would rather spend money and ! 216: get a product with service, they will also be willing to buy the service ! 217: having got the product free. The service companies will compete in quality ! 218: and price; users will not be tied to any particular one. Meanwhile, those ! 219: of us who don't need the service should be able to use the program without ! 220: paying for the service. ! 221: ! 222: "You cannot reach many people without advertising, ! 223: and you must charge for the program to support that." ! 224: "It's no use advertising a program people can get free." ! 225: ! 226: There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be used to ! 227: inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But it may be ! 228: true that one can reach more microcomputer users with advertising. If this ! 229: is really so, a business which advertises the service of copying and ! 230: mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful enough to pay for its ! 231: advertising and more. This way, only the users who benefit from the ! 232: advertising pay for it. ! 233: ! 234: On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and such ! 235: companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not really ! 236: necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates don't want ! 237: to let the free market decide this? ! 238: ! 239: "My company needs a proprietary operating system ! 240: to get a competitive edge." ! 241: ! 242: GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of competition. ! 243: You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but neither will your ! 244: competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and they will compete in ! 245: other areas, while benefitting mutually in this one. If your business is ! 246: selling an operating system, you will not like GNU, but that's tough on ! 247: you. If your business is something else, GNU can save you from being ! 248: pushed into the expensive business of selling operating systems. ! 249: ! 250: I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many ! 251: manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each. ! 252: ! 253: "Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?" ! 254: ! 255: If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution. Creativity can ! 256: be a social contribution, but only in so far as society is free to use the ! 257: results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative ! 258: programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict ! 259: the use of these programs. ! 260: ! 261: "Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his creativity?" ! 262: ! 263: There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to maximize ! 264: one's income, as long as one does not use means that are destructive. But ! 265: the means customary in the field of software today are based on ! 266: destruction. ! 267: ! 268: Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of it is ! 269: destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the ways that ! 270: the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth that humanity ! 271: derives from the program. When there is a deliberate choice to restrict, ! 272: the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction. ! 273: ! 274: The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to become ! 275: wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become poorer from the ! 276: mutual destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics; or, the Golden Rule. ! 277: Since I do not like the consequences that result if everyone hoards ! 278: information, I am required to consider it wrong for one to do so. ! 279: Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not ! 280: justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that creativity. ! 281: ! 282: "Won't programmers starve?" ! 283: ! 284: I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us cannot ! 285: manage to get any money for standing on the street and making faces. But ! 286: we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives standing on the ! 287: street making faces, and starving. We do something else. ! 288: ! 289: But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's implicit ! 290: assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers cannot possibly ! 291: be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing. ! 292: ! 293: The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be ! 294: possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as ! 295: now. ! 296: ! 297: Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software. It is ! 298: the most common basis because it brings in the most money. If it were ! 299: prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would move to ! 300: other bases of organization which are now used less often. There are ! 301: always numerous ways to organize any kind of business. ! 302: ! 303: Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it is ! 304: now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not considered ! 305: an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they now do. If ! 306: programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice either. (In ! 307: practice they would still make considerably more than that.) ! 308: ! 309: "Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is used?" ! 310: ! 311: "Control over the use of one's ideas" really constitutes control over other ! 312: people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult. ! 313: ! 314: People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights carefully ! 315: (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to intellectual ! 316: property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property rights that the ! 317: government recognizes were created by specific acts of legislation for ! 318: specific purposes. ! 319: ! 320: For example, the patent system was established to encourage inventors to ! 321: disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was to help society ! 322: rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life span of 17 years for ! 323: a patent was short compared with the rate of advance of the state of the ! 324: art. Since patents are an issue only among manufacturers, for whom the ! 325: cost and effort of a license agreement are small compared with setting up ! 326: production, the patents often do not do much harm. They do not obstruct ! 327: most individuals who use patented products. ! 328: ! 329: The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors ! 330: frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This ! 331: practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have survived ! 332: even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for the purpose ! 333: of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was invented--books, ! 334: which could be copied economically only on a printing press--it did little ! 335: harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals who read the books. ! 336: ! 337: All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society ! 338: because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole would ! 339: benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we have to ask: ! 340: are we really better off granting such license? What kind of act are we ! 341: licensing a person to do? ! 342: ! 343: The case of programs today is very different from that of books a hundred ! 344: years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is from one ! 345: neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source code and ! 346: object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is used rather ! 347: than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in which a person who ! 348: enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole both materially and ! 349: spiritually; in which a person should not do so regardless of whether the ! 350: law enables him to. ! 351: ! 352: "Competition makes things get done better." ! 353: ! 354: The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we ! 355: encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this way, ! 356: it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it always works ! 357: this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered and become ! 358: intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other strategies--such as, ! 359: attacking other runners. If the runners get into a fist fight, they will ! 360: all finish late. ! 361: ! 362: Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners in a ! 363: fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem to ! 364: object to fights; he just regulates them ("For every ten yards you run, you ! 365: are allowed one kick."). He really ought to break them up, and penalize ! 366: runners for even trying to fight. ! 367: ! 368: "Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?" ! 369: ! 370: Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary incentive. ! 371: Programming has an irresistible fascination for some people, usually the ! 372: people who are best at it. There is no shortage of professional musicians ! 373: who keep at it even though they have no hope of making a living that way. ! 374: ! 375: But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate to the ! 376: situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become less. So ! 377: the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced monetary ! 378: incentive? My experience shows that they will. ! 379: ! 380: For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked at the ! 381: Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could have had ! 382: anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards: fame and ! 383: appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a reward in itself. ! 384: ! 385: Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same interesting ! 386: work for a lot of money. ! 387: ! 388: What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other than ! 389: riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they will ! 390: come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly in ! 391: competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly if the ! 392: high-paying ones are banned. ! 393: ! 394: "We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we ! 395: stop helping our neighbors, we have to obey." ! 396: ! 397: You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand. ! 398: Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute! ! 399: ! 400: "Programmers need to make a living somehow." ! 401: ! 402: In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways that ! 403: programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a program. ! 404: This way is customary now because it brings programmers and businessmen the ! 405: most money, not because it is the only way to make a living. It is easy to ! 406: find other ways if you want to find them. Here are a number of examples. ! 407: ! 408: A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of ! 409: operating systems onto the new hardware. ! 410: ! 411: The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could also ! 412: employ programmers. ! 413: ! 414: People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking for ! 415: donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services. I have ! 416: met people who are already working this way successfully. ! 417: ! 418: Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A group ! 419: would contract with programming companies to write programs that the ! 420: group's members would like to use. ! 421: ! 422: All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax: ! 423: ! 424: Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of ! 425: the price as a software tax. The government gives this to ! 426: an agency like the NSF to spend on software development. ! 427: ! 428: But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development ! 429: himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to ! 430: the project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to ! 431: use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any amount ! 432: of donation up to the total tax he had to pay. ! 433: ! 434: The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of ! 435: the tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on. ! 436: ! 437: The consequences: ! 438: * the computer-using community supports software development. ! 439: * this community decides what level of support is needed. ! 440: * users who care which projects their share is spent on ! 441: can choose this for themselves. ! 442: ! 443: In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the post-scarcity ! 444: world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to make a living. ! 445: People will be free to devote themselves to activities that are fun, ! 446: such as programming, after spending the necessary ten hours a week ! 447: on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling, robot ! 448: repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be able ! 449: to make a living from programming. ! 450: ! 451: We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole ! 452: society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this ! 453: has translated itself into leisure for workers because much ! 454: nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity. ! 455: The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles ! 456: against competition. Free software will greatly reduce these ! 457: drains in the area of software production. We must do this, ! 458: in order for technical gains in productivity to translate into ! 459: less work for us. ! 460: ! 461: Copyright (C) 1985 Richard M. Stallman ! 462: ! 463: Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies ! 464: of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the ! 465: copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, ! 466: and that the distributor grants the recipient permission ! 467: for further redistribution as permitted by this notice. ! 468: ! 469: Modified versions may not be made. ! 470:
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