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1.1 ! root 1: This is Info file ../info/emacs, produced by Makeinfo-1.49 from the ! 2: input file emacs.texi. ! 3: ! 4: This file documents the GNU Emacs editor. ! 5: ! 6: Copyright (C) 1985, 1986, 1988, 1992 Richard M. Stallman. ! 7: ! 8: Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this ! 9: manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are ! 10: preserved on all copies. ! 11: ! 12: Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of ! 13: this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also ! 14: that the sections entitled "The GNU Manifesto", "Distribution" and "GNU ! 15: General Public License" are included exactly as in the original, and ! 16: provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the ! 17: terms of a permission notice identical to this one. ! 18: ! 19: Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this ! 20: manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified ! 21: versions, except that the sections entitled "The GNU Manifesto", ! 22: "Distribution" and "GNU General Public License" may be included in a ! 23: translation approved by the author instead of in the original English. ! 24: ! 25: ! 26: File: emacs, Node: Manifesto, Prev: Version 19, Up: Top ! 27: ! 28: The GNU Manifesto ! 29: ***************** ! 30: ! 31: By Richard M. Stallman, 1986 ! 32: ! 33: What's GNU? Gnu's Not Unix! ! 34: ============================ ! 35: ! 36: GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete ! 37: Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it ! 38: away free to everyone who can use it. Several other volunteers are ! 39: helping me. Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are ! 40: greatly needed. ! 41: ! 42: So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor ! 43: commands, a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator, ! 44: a linker, and around 35 utilities. A shell (command interpreter) is ! 45: nearly completed. A new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled ! 46: itself and may be released this year. An initial kernel exists but ! 47: many more features are needed to emulate Unix. When the kernel and ! 48: compiler are finished, it will be possible to distribute a GNU system ! 49: suitable for program development. We will use TeX as our text ! 50: formatter, but an nroff is being worked on. We will use the free, ! 51: portable X window system as well. After this we will add a portable ! 52: Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other ! 53: things, plus on-line documentation. We hope to supply, eventually, ! 54: everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more. ! 55: ! 56: GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to ! 57: Unix. We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our ! 58: experience with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to ! 59: have longer filenames, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, ! 60: filename completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and ! 61: perhaps eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several ! 62: Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C ! 63: and Lisp will be available as system programming languages. We will ! 64: try to support UUCP, MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for ! 65: communication. ! 66: ! 67: GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with ! 68: virtual memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run ! 69: on. The extra effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left ! 70: to someone who wants to use it on them. ! 71: ! 72: To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word ! 73: `GNU' when it is the name of this project. ! 74: ! 75: Why I Must Write GNU ! 76: ==================== ! 77: ! 78: I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I ! 79: must share it with other people who like it. Software sellers want to ! 80: divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share ! 81: with others. I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this ! 82: way. I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a ! 83: software license agreement. For years I worked within the Artificial ! 84: Intelligence Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities, ! 85: but eventually they had gone too far: I could not remain in an ! 86: institution where such things are done for me against my will. ! 87: ! 88: So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have ! 89: decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I ! 90: will be able to get along without any software that is not free. I ! 91: have resigned from the AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent ! 92: me from giving GNU away. ! 93: ! 94: Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix ! 95: ==================================== ! 96: ! 97: Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad. The essential ! 98: features of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what ! 99: Unix lacks without spoiling them. And a system compatible with Unix ! 100: would be convenient for many other people to adopt. ! 101: ! 102: How GNU Will Be Available ! 103: ========================= ! 104: ! 105: GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to ! 106: modify and redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to ! 107: restrict its further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary ! 108: modifications will not be allowed. I want to make sure that all ! 109: versions of GNU remain free. ! 110: ! 111: Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help ! 112: ======================================= ! 113: ! 114: I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and ! 115: want to help. ! 116: ! 117: Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system ! 118: software. It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them ! 119: to feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel ! 120: as comrades. The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the ! 121: sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used ! 122: essentially forbid programmers to treat others as friends. The ! 123: purchaser of software must choose between friendship and obeying the ! 124: law. Naturally, many decide that friendship is more important. But ! 125: those who believe in law often do not feel at ease with either choice. ! 126: They become cynical and think that programming is just a way of making ! 127: money. ! 128: ! 129: By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can ! 130: be hospitable to everyone and obey the law. In addition, GNU serves as ! 131: an example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in ! 132: sharing. This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if ! 133: we use software that is not free. For about half the programmers I ! 134: talk to, this is an important happiness that money cannot replace. ! 135: ! 136: How You Can Contribute ! 137: ====================== ! 138: ! 139: I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and ! 140: money. I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work. ! 141: ! 142: One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU ! 143: will run on them at an early date. The machines should be complete, ! 144: ready to use systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not ! 145: in need of sophisticated cooling or power. ! 146: ! 147: I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time ! 148: work for GNU. For most projects, such part-time distributed work would ! 149: be very hard to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not ! 150: work together. But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this ! 151: problem is absent. A complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility ! 152: programs, each of which is documented separately. Most interface ! 153: specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility. If each contributor ! 154: can write a compatible replacement for a single Unix utility, and make ! 155: it work properly in place of the original on a Unix system, then these ! 156: utilities will work right when put together. Even allowing for Murphy ! 157: to create a few unexpected problems, assembling these components will ! 158: be a feasible task. (The kernel will require closer communication and ! 159: will be worked on by a small, tight group.) ! 160: ! 161: If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full ! 162: or part time. The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but ! 163: I'm looking for people for whom building community spirit is as ! 164: important as making money. I view this as a way of enabling dedicated ! 165: people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them ! 166: the need to make a living in another way. ! 167: ! 168: Why All Computer Users Will Benefit ! 169: =================================== ! 170: ! 171: Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system ! 172: software free, just like air. ! 173: ! 174: This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix ! 175: license. It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming ! 176: effort will be avoided. This effort can go instead into advancing the ! 177: state of the art. ! 178: ! 179: Complete system sources will be available to everyone. As a result, ! 180: a user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them ! 181: himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for ! 182: him. Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company ! 183: which owns the sources and is in sole position to make changes. ! 184: ! 185: Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment ! 186: by encouraging all students to study and improve the system code. ! 187: Harvard's computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be ! 188: installed on the system if its sources were not on public display, and ! 189: upheld it by actually refusing to install certain programs. I was very ! 190: much inspired by this. ! 191: ! 192: Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software ! 193: and what one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted. ! 194: ! 195: Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including ! 196: licensing of copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through ! 197: the cumbersome mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is, ! 198: which programs) a person must pay for. And only a police state can ! 199: force everyone to obey them. Consider a space station where air must ! 200: be manufactured at great cost: charging each breather per liter of air ! 201: may be fair, but wearing the metered gas mask all day and all night is ! 202: intolerable even if everyone can afford to pay the air bill. And the ! 203: TV cameras everywhere to see if you ever take the mask off are ! 204: outrageous. It's better to support the air plant with a head tax and ! 205: chuck the masks. ! 206: ! 207: Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as ! 208: breathing, and as productive. It ought to be as free. ! 209: ! 210: Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals ! 211: ============================================== ! 212: ! 213: "Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can't ! 214: rely on any support." ! 215: ! 216: "You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the ! 217: support." ! 218: ! 219: If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free ! 220: without service, a company to provide just service to people who have ! 221: obtained GNU free ought to be profitable. ! 222: ! 223: We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming ! 224: work and mere handholding. The former is something one cannot rely on ! 225: from a software vendor. If your problem is not shared by enough ! 226: people, the vendor will tell you to get lost. ! 227: ! 228: If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way ! 229: is to have all the necessary sources and tools. Then you can hire any ! 230: available person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any ! 231: individual. With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of ! 232: consideration for most businesses. With GNU this will be easy. It is ! 233: still possible for there to be no available competent person, but this ! 234: problem cannot be blamed on distribution arrangements. GNU does not ! 235: eliminate all the world's problems, only some of them. ! 236: ! 237: Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need ! 238: handholding: doing things for them which they could easily do ! 239: themselves but don't know how. ! 240: ! 241: Such services could be provided by companies that sell just ! 242: hand-holding and repair service. If it is true that users would rather ! 243: spend money and get a product with service, they will also be willing ! 244: to buy the service having got the product free. The service companies ! 245: will compete in quality and price; users will not be tied to any ! 246: particular one. Meanwhile, those of us who don't need the service ! 247: should be able to use the program without paying for the service. ! 248: ! 249: "You cannot reach many people without advertising, and you must ! 250: charge for the program to support that." ! 251: ! 252: "It's no use advertising a program people can get free." ! 253: ! 254: There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be ! 255: used to inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU. But ! 256: it may be true that one can reach more microcomputer users with ! 257: advertising. If this is really so, a business which advertises the ! 258: service of copying and mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful ! 259: enough to pay for its advertising and more. This way, only the users ! 260: who benefit from the advertising pay for it. ! 261: ! 262: On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and ! 263: such companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not ! 264: really necessary to spread GNU. Why is it that free market advocates ! 265: don't want to let the free market decide this? ! 266: ! 267: "My company needs a proprietary operating system to get a ! 268: competitive edge." ! 269: ! 270: GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of ! 271: competition. You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but ! 272: neither will your competitors be able to get an edge over you. You and ! 273: they will compete in other areas, while benefitting mutually in this ! 274: one. If your business is selling an operating system, you will not ! 275: like GNU, but that's tough on you. If your business is something else, ! 276: GNU can save you from being pushed into the expensive business of ! 277: selling operating systems. ! 278: ! 279: I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many ! 280: manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each. ! 281: ! 282: "Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?" ! 283: ! 284: If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution. ! 285: Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so far as society ! 286: is free to use the results. If programmers deserve to be rewarded for ! 287: creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be ! 288: punished if they restrict the use of these programs. ! 289: ! 290: "Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his ! 291: creativity?" ! 292: ! 293: There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to ! 294: maximize one's income, as long as one does not use means that are ! 295: destructive. But the means customary in the field of software today ! 296: are based on destruction. ! 297: ! 298: Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of ! 299: it is destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the ! 300: ways that the program can be used. This reduces the amount of wealth ! 301: that humanity derives from the program. When there is a deliberate ! 302: choice to restrict, the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction. ! 303: ! 304: The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to ! 305: become wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become ! 306: poorer from the mutual destructiveness. This is Kantian ethics; or, ! 307: the Golden Rule. Since I do not like the consequences that result if ! 308: everyone hoards information, I am required to consider it wrong for one ! 309: to do so. Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity ! 310: does not justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that ! 311: creativity. ! 312: ! 313: "Won't programmers starve?" ! 314: ! 315: I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer. Most of us ! 316: cannot manage to get any money for standing on the street and making ! 317: faces. But we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives ! 318: standing on the street making faces, and starving. We do something ! 319: else. ! 320: ! 321: But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's ! 322: implicit assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers ! 323: cannot possibly be paid a cent. Supposedly it is all or nothing. ! 324: ! 325: The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be ! 326: possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as ! 327: now. ! 328: ! 329: Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software. ! 330: It is the most common basis because it brings in the most money. If it ! 331: were prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would ! 332: move to other bases of organization which are now used less often. ! 333: There are always numerous ways to organize any kind of business. ! 334: ! 335: Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it ! 336: is now. But that is not an argument against the change. It is not ! 337: considered an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they ! 338: now do. If programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice ! 339: either. (In practice they would still make considerably more than ! 340: that.) ! 341: ! 342: "Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is ! 343: used?" ! 344: ! 345: "Control over the use of one's ideas" really constitutes control over ! 346: other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more ! 347: difficult. ! 348: ! 349: People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights ! 350: carefully (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to ! 351: intellectual property. The kinds of supposed intellectual property ! 352: rights that the government recognizes were created by specific acts of ! 353: legislation for specific purposes. ! 354: ! 355: For example, the patent system was established to encourage ! 356: inventors to disclose the details of their inventions. Its purpose was ! 357: to help society rather than to help inventors. At the time, the life ! 358: span of 17 years for a patent was short compared with the rate of ! 359: advance of the state of the art. Since patents are an issue only among ! 360: manufacturers, for whom the cost and effort of a license agreement are ! 361: small compared with setting up production, the patents often do not do ! 362: much harm. They do not obstruct most individuals who use patented ! 363: products. ! 364: ! 365: The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors ! 366: frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This ! 367: practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have ! 368: survived even in part. The copyright system was created expressly for ! 369: the purpose of encouraging authorship. In the domain for which it was ! 370: invented--books, which could be copied economically only on a printing ! 371: press--it did little harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals ! 372: who read the books. ! 373: ! 374: All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society ! 375: because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole ! 376: would benefit by granting them. But in any particular situation, we ! 377: have to ask: are we really better off granting such license? What kind ! 378: of act are we licensing a person to do? ! 379: ! 380: The case of programs today is very different from that of books a ! 381: hundred years ago. The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is ! 382: from one neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source ! 383: code and object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is ! 384: used rather than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in ! 385: which a person who enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole ! 386: both materially and spiritually; in which a person should not do so ! 387: regardless of whether the law enables him to. ! 388: ! 389: "Competition makes things get done better." ! 390: ! 391: The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we ! 392: encourage everyone to run faster. When capitalism really works this ! 393: way, it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it ! 394: always works this way. If the runners forget why the reward is offered ! 395: and become intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other ! 396: strategies--such as, attacking other runners. If the runners get into ! 397: a fist fight, they will all finish late. ! 398: ! 399: Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners ! 400: in a fist fight. Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem ! 401: to object to fights; he just regulates them ("For every ten yards you ! 402: run, you can fire one shot"). He really ought to break them up, and ! 403: penalize runners for even trying to fight. ! 404: ! 405: "Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?" ! 406: ! 407: Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary ! 408: incentive. Programming has an irresistible fascination for some people, ! 409: usually the people who are best at it. There is no shortage of ! 410: professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope of ! 411: making a living that way. ! 412: ! 413: But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate ! 414: to the situation. Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become ! 415: less. So the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced ! 416: monetary incentive? My experience shows that they will. ! 417: ! 418: For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked ! 419: at the Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could ! 420: have had anywhere else. They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards: ! 421: fame and appreciation, for example. And creativity is also fun, a ! 422: reward in itself. ! 423: ! 424: Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same ! 425: interesting work for a lot of money. ! 426: ! 427: What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other ! 428: than riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they ! 429: will come to expect and demand it. Low-paying organizations do poorly ! 430: in competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly ! 431: if the high-paying ones are banned. ! 432: ! 433: "We need the programmers desperately. If they demand that we stop ! 434: helping our neighbors, we have to obey." ! 435: ! 436: You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand. ! 437: Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute! ! 438: ! 439: "Programmers need to make a living somehow." ! 440: ! 441: In the short run, this is true. However, there are plenty of ways ! 442: that programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a ! 443: program. This way is customary now because it brings programmers and ! 444: businessmen the most money, not because it is the only way to make a ! 445: living. It is easy to find other ways if you want to find them. Here ! 446: are a number of examples. ! 447: ! 448: A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of ! 449: operating systems onto the new hardware. ! 450: ! 451: The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could ! 452: also employ programmers. ! 453: ! 454: People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking ! 455: for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services. ! 456: I have met people who are already working this way successfully. ! 457: ! 458: Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues. A ! 459: group would contract with programming companies to write programs that ! 460: the group's members would like to use. ! 461: ! 462: All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax: ! 463: ! 464: Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of the ! 465: price as a software tax. The government gives this to an agency ! 466: like the NSF to spend on software development. ! 467: ! 468: But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development ! 469: himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to ! 470: the project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to ! 471: use the results when it is done. He can take a credit for any ! 472: amount of donation up to the total tax he had to pay. ! 473: ! 474: The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the ! 475: tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on. ! 476: ! 477: The consequences: ! 478: ! 479: * The computer-using community supports software development. ! 480: ! 481: * This community decides what level of support is needed. ! 482: ! 483: * Users who care which projects their share is spent on can ! 484: choose this for themselves. ! 485: ! 486: In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the ! 487: post-scarcity world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to ! 488: make a living. People will be free to devote themselves to activities ! 489: that are fun, such as programming, after spending the necessary ten ! 490: hours a week on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling, ! 491: robot repair and asteroid prospecting. There will be no need to be ! 492: able to make a living from programming. ! 493: ! 494: We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole ! 495: society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this ! 496: has translated itself into leisure for workers because much ! 497: nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity. ! 498: The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against ! 499: competition. Free software will greatly reduce these drains in the ! 500: area of software production. We must do this, in order for technical ! 501: gains in productivity to translate into less work for us. ! 502: ! 503:
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