![[BACK]](/cvsweb/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to GNU CVS log ![[TXT]](/cvsweb/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/cvsweb/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [CSRG BSD Unix] / 43BSDReno / contrib / emacs-18.55 / etc|
Return to GNU CVS log | Up to [CSRG BSD Unix] / 43BSDReno / contrib / emacs-18.55 / etc |
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 an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor commands, ! 15: a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator, a linker, and ! 16: around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is nearly completed. A ! 17: new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled itself and may be released ! 18: this year. An initial kernel exists but many more features are needed to ! 19: emulate Unix. When the kernel and compiler are finished, it will be ! 20: possible to distribute a GNU system suitable for program development. We ! 21: will use @TeX{} as our text formatter, but an nroff is being worked on. We ! 22: will use the free, portable X window system as well. After this we will ! 23: add a portable Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of ! 24: other things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually, ! 25: everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more. ! 26: ! 27: GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to Unix. ! 28: We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our experience ! 29: with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to have longer ! 30: filenames, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, filename ! 31: completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and perhaps ! 32: eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several Lisp programs ! 33: and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C and Lisp will be ! 34: available as system programming languages. We will try to support UUCP, ! 35: MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for communication. ! 36: ! 37: GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with virtual ! 38: memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run on. The extra ! 39: effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left to someone who wants ! 40: to use it on them. ! 41: ! 42: To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word `GNU' ! 43: when it is the name of this project. ! 44: ! 45: ! 46: Who Am I? ! 47: ! 48: I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original much-imitated EMACS editor, ! 49: formerly at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. I have worked ! 50: extensively on compilers, editors, debuggers, command interpreters, the ! 51: Incompatible Timesharing System and the Lisp Machine operating system. I ! 52: pioneered terminal-independent display support in ITS. Since then I have ! 53: implemented one crashproof file system and two window systems for Lisp ! 54: machines, and designed a third window system now being implemented; this ! 55: one will be ported to many systems including use in GNU. [Historical note: ! 56: The window system project was not completed; GNU now plans to use the ! 57: X window system.] ! 58: ! 59: ! 60: Why I Must Write GNU ! 61: ! 62: I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must ! 63: share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to divide ! 64: the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share with ! 65: others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this way. I ! 66: cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software ! 67: license agreement. For years I worked within the Artificial Intelligence ! 68: Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities, but eventually ! 69: they had gone too far: I could not remain in an institution where such ! 70: things are done for me against my will. ! 71: ! 72: So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have decided to ! 73: put together a sufficient body of free software so that I will be able to ! 74: get along without any software that is not free. I have resigned from the ! 75: AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent me from giving GNU away. ! 76: ! 77: ! 78: Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix ! 79: ! 80: Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential features ! 81: of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what Unix lacks ! 82: without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix would be ! 83: convenient for many other people to adopt. ! 84: ! 85: ! 86: How GNU Will Be Available ! 87: ! 88: GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to modify and ! 89: redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to restrict its ! 90: further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary modifications will not ! 91: be allowed. I want to make sure that all versions of GNU remain free. ! 92: ! 93: ! 94: Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help ! 95: ! 96: I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and want to ! 97: help. ! 98: ! 99: Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system ! 100: software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them to ! 101: feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel as ! 102: comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the ! 103: sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used essentially ! 104: forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The purchaser of software ! 105: must choose between friendship and obeying the law. Naturally, many decide ! 106: that friendship is more important. But those who believe in law often do ! 107: not feel at ease with either choice. They become cynical and think that ! 108: programming is just a way of making money. ! 109: ! 110: By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can be ! 111: hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as an ! 112: example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in sharing. ! 113: This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if we use ! 114: software that is not free. For about half the programmers I talk to, this ! 115: is an important happiness that money cannot replace. ! 116: ! 117: ! 118: How You Can Contribute ! 119: ! 120: I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money. ! 121: I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work. ! 122: ! 123: One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU will run ! 124: on them at an early date. The machines should be complete, ready to use ! 125: systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not in need of ! 126: sophisticated cooling or power. ! 127: ! 128: I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time work for ! 129: GNU. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would be very hard ! 130: to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not work together. ! 131: But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is absent. A ! 132: complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility programs, each of which ! 133: is documented separately. Most interface specifications are fixed by Unix ! 134: compatibility. If each contributor can write a compatible replacement for ! 135: a single Unix utility, and make it work properly in place of the original ! 136: on a Unix system, then these utilities will work right when put together. ! 137: Even allowing for Murphy to create a few unexpected problems, assembling ! 138: these components will be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer ! 139: communication and will be worked on by a small, tight group.) ! 140: ! 141: If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or ! 142: part time. The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but I'm ! 143: looking for people for whom building community spirit is as important as ! 144: making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote ! 145: their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a ! 146: living in another way. ! 147: ! 148: ! 149: Why All Computer Users Will Benefit ! 150: ! 151: Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system software ! 152: free, just like air. ! 153: ! 154: This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix license. ! 155: It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming effort will ! 156: be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the state of the ! 157: art. ! 158: ! 159: Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, a user ! 160: who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them himself, ! 161: or hire any available programmer or company to make them for him. Users ! 162: will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company which owns the ! 163: sources and is in sole position to make changes. ! 164: ! 165: Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment by ! 166: encouraging all students to study and improve the system code. Harvard's ! 167: computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be installed on ! 168: the system if its sources were not on public display, and upheld it by ! 169: actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very much inspired by ! 170: this. ! 171: ! 172: Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software and what ! 173: one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted. ! 174: ! 175: Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including licensing of ! 176: copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through the cumbersome ! 177: mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is, which programs) a ! 178: person must pay for. And only a police state can force everyone to obey ! 179: them. Consider a space station where air must be manufactured at great ! 180: cost: charging each breather per liter of air may be fair, but wearing the ! 181: metered gas mask all day and all night is intolerable even if everyone can ! 182: afford to pay the air bill. And the TV cameras everywhere to see if you ! 183: ever take the mask off are outrageous. It's better to support the air ! 184: plant with a head tax and chuck the masks. ! 185: ! 186: Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as ! 187: breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free. ! 188: ! 189: ! 190: Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals ! 191: ! 192: "Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means ! 193: they can't rely on any support." ! 194: "You have to charge for the program ! 195: to pay for providing the support." ! 196: ! 197: If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free without ! 198: service, a company to provide just service to people who have obtained GNU ! 199: free ought to be profitable. ! 200: ! 201: We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming work ! 202: and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on from a ! 203: software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough people, the ! 204: vendor will tell you to get lost. ! 205: ! 206: If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way is to ! 207: have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any available ! 208: person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any individual. ! 209: With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of consideration for most ! 210: businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is still possible for there to ! 211: be no available competent person, but this problem cannot be blamed on ! 212: distibution arrangements. GNU does not eliminate all the world's problems, ! 213: only some of them. ! 214: ! 215: Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need handholding: ! 216: doing things for them which they could easily do themselves but don't know ! 217: how. ! 218: ! 219: Such services could be provided by companies that sell just hand-holding ! 220: and repair service. If it is true that users would rather spend money and ! 221: get a product with service, they will also be willing to buy the service ! 222: having got the product free. The service companies will compete in quality ! 223: and price; users will not be tied to any particular one. Meanwhile, those ! 224: of us who don't need the service should be able to use the program without ! 225: paying for the service. ! 226: ! 227: "You cannot reach many people without advertising, ! 228: and you must charge for the program to support that." ! 229: "It's no use advertising a program people can get free." ! 230: ! 231: There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be used to ! 232: inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But it may be ! 233: true that one can reach more microcomputer users with advertising. If this ! 234: is really so, a business which advertises the service of copying and ! 235: mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful enough to pay for its ! 236: advertising and more. This way, only the users who benefit from the ! 237: advertising pay for it. ! 238: ! 239: On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and such ! 240: companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not really ! 241: necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates don't want ! 242: to let the free market decide this? ! 243: ! 244: "My company needs a proprietary operating system ! 245: to get a competitive edge." ! 246: ! 247: GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of competition. ! 248: You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but neither will your ! 249: competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and they will compete in ! 250: other areas, while benefitting mutually in this one. If your business is ! 251: selling an operating system, you will not like GNU, but that's tough on ! 252: you. If your business is something else, GNU can save you from being ! 253: pushed into the expensive business of selling operating systems. ! 254: ! 255: I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many ! 256: manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each. ! 257: ! 258: "Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?" ! 259: ! 260: If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution. Creativity can ! 261: be a social contribution, but only in so far as society is free to use the ! 262: results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for creating innovative ! 263: programs, by the same token they deserve to be punished if they restrict ! 264: the use of these programs. ! 265: ! 266: "Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his creativity?" ! 267: ! 268: There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to maximize ! 269: one's income, as long as one does not use means that are destructive. But ! 270: the means customary in the field of software today are based on ! 271: destruction. ! 272: ! 273: Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of it is ! 274: destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the ways that ! 275: the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth that humanity ! 276: derives from the program. When there is a deliberate choice to restrict, ! 277: the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction. ! 278: ! 279: The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to become ! 280: wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become poorer from the ! 281: mutual destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics; or, the Golden Rule. ! 282: Since I do not like the consequences that result if everyone hoards ! 283: information, I am required to consider it wrong for one to do so. ! 284: Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity does not ! 285: justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that creativity. ! 286: ! 287: "Won't programmers starve?" ! 288: ! 289: I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us cannot ! 290: manage to get any money for standing on the street and making faces. But ! 291: we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives standing on the ! 292: street making faces, and starving. We do something else. ! 293: ! 294: But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's implicit ! 295: assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers cannot possibly ! 296: be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing. ! 297: ! 298: The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be ! 299: possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as ! 300: now. ! 301: ! 302: Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software. It is ! 303: the most common basis because it brings in the most money. If it were ! 304: prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would move to ! 305: other bases of organization which are now used less often. There are ! 306: always numerous ways to organize any kind of business. ! 307: ! 308: Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it is ! 309: now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not considered ! 310: an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they now do. If ! 311: programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice either. (In ! 312: practice they would still make considerably more than that.) ! 313: ! 314: "Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is used?" ! 315: ! 316: "Control over the use of one's ideas" really constitutes control over other ! 317: people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more difficult. ! 318: ! 319: People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights carefully ! 320: (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to intellectual ! 321: property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property rights that the ! 322: government recognizes were created by specific acts of legislation for ! 323: specific purposes. ! 324: ! 325: For example, the patent system was established to encourage inventors to ! 326: disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was to help society ! 327: rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life span of 17 years for ! 328: a patent was short compared with the rate of advance of the state of the ! 329: art. Since patents are an issue only among manufacturers, for whom the ! 330: cost and effort of a license agreement are small compared with setting up ! 331: production, the patents often do not do much harm. They do not obstruct ! 332: most individuals who use patented products. ! 333: ! 334: The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors ! 335: frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This ! 336: practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have survived ! 337: even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for the purpose ! 338: of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was invented--books, ! 339: which could be copied economically only on a printing press--it did little ! 340: harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals who read the books. ! 341: ! 342: All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society ! 343: because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole would ! 344: benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we have to ask: ! 345: are we really better off granting such license? What kind of act are we ! 346: licensing a person to do? ! 347: ! 348: The case of programs today is very different from that of books a hundred ! 349: years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is from one ! 350: neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source code and ! 351: object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is used rather ! 352: than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in which a person who ! 353: enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole both materially and ! 354: spiritually; in which a person should not do so regardless of whether the ! 355: law enables him to. ! 356: ! 357: "Competition makes things get done better." ! 358: ! 359: The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we ! 360: encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this way, ! 361: it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it always works ! 362: this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered and become ! 363: intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other strategies--such as, ! 364: attacking other runners. If the runners get into a fist fight, they will ! 365: all finish late. ! 366: ! 367: Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners in a ! 368: fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem to ! 369: object to fights; he just regulates them ("For every ten yards you run, you ! 370: are allowed one kick."). He really ought to break them up, and penalize ! 371: runners for even trying to fight. ! 372: ! 373: "Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?" ! 374: ! 375: Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary incentive. ! 376: Programming has an irresistible fascination for some people, usually the ! 377: people who are best at it. There is no shortage of professional musicians ! 378: who keep at it even though they have no hope of making a living that way. ! 379: ! 380: But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate to the ! 381: situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become less. So ! 382: the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced monetary ! 383: incentive? My experience shows that they will. ! 384: ! 385: For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked at the ! 386: Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could have had ! 387: anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards: fame and ! 388: appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a reward in itself. ! 389: ! 390: Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same interesting ! 391: work for a lot of money. ! 392: ! 393: What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other than ! 394: riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they will ! 395: come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly in ! 396: competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly if the ! 397: high-paying ones are banned. ! 398: ! 399: "We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we ! 400: stop helping our neighbors, we have to obey." ! 401: ! 402: You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand. ! 403: Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute! ! 404: ! 405: "Programmers need to make a living somehow." ! 406: ! 407: In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways that ! 408: programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a program. ! 409: This way is customary now because it brings programmers and businessmen the ! 410: most money, not because it is the only way to make a living. It is easy to ! 411: find other ways if you want to find them. Here are a number of examples. ! 412: ! 413: A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of ! 414: operating systems onto the new hardware. ! 415: ! 416: The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could also ! 417: employ programmers. ! 418: ! 419: People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking for ! 420: donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services. I have ! 421: met people who are already working this way successfully. ! 422: ! 423: Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A group ! 424: would contract with programming companies to write programs that the ! 425: group's members would like to use. ! 426: ! 427: All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax: ! 428: ! 429: Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of ! 430: the price as a software tax. The government gives this to ! 431: an agency like the NSF to spend on software development. ! 432: ! 433: But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development ! 434: himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to ! 435: the project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to ! 436: use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any amount ! 437: of donation up to the total tax he had to pay. ! 438: ! 439: The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of ! 440: the tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on. ! 441: ! 442: The consequences: ! 443: * the computer-using community supports software development. ! 444: * this community decides what level of support is needed. ! 445: * users who care which projects their share is spent on ! 446: can choose this for themselves. ! 447: ! 448: In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the post-scarcity ! 449: world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to make a living. ! 450: People will be free to devote themselves to activities that are fun, ! 451: such as programming, after spending the necessary ten hours a week ! 452: on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling, robot ! 453: repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be able ! 454: to make a living from programming. ! 455: ! 456: We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole ! 457: society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this ! 458: has translated itself into leisure for workers because much ! 459: nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity. ! 460: The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles ! 461: against competition. Free software will greatly reduce these ! 462: drains in the area of software production. We must do this, ! 463: in order for technical gains in productivity to translate into ! 464: less work for us. ! 465: ! 466: Copyright (C) 1985 Richard M. Stallman ! 467: ! 468: Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies ! 469: of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the ! 470: copyright notice and permission notice are preserved, ! 471: and that the distributor grants the recipient permission ! 472: for further redistribution as permitted by this notice. ! 473: ! 474: Modified versions may not be made. ! 475:
This archive runs on limited infrastructure. Preserving old code on modern bandwidth. Automated agents are requested to crawl responsibly.