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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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