mirror of
https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/emacs.git
synced 2024-11-24 07:20:37 +00:00
105 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
105 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
-*- text -*-
|
||
For an order form for all Emacs and FSF distributions deliverable from
|
||
the USA, see the file `ORDERS' in this directory (etc/ in the GNU
|
||
Emacs distribution or http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html). For a
|
||
European order form, see `ORDERS.EUROPE'. For a Japan order form,
|
||
see `ORDERS.JAPAN'.
|
||
|
||
GNU Emacs availability information, October 2000
|
||
Copyright (C) 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2000
|
||
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
|
||
|
||
Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute
|
||
verbatim copies of this document provided that the
|
||
copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved.
|
||
|
||
GNU Emacs is legally owned by the Free Software Foundation, but we
|
||
regard the foundation more as its custodian on behalf of the public.
|
||
|
||
In the GNU project, when we speak of "free software", this refers to
|
||
liberty, not price. Specifically, it refers to the users' freedom to
|
||
study, copy, change and improve the software. Sometimes users pay
|
||
money for copies of GNU software, and sometimes they get copies at no
|
||
charge. But regardless of how they got the software, or whether it
|
||
was modified by anyone else along the way, they have the freedom to
|
||
copy and change it--those freedoms are what "free software" means.
|
||
|
||
The precise conditions for copying and modification are stated in the
|
||
document "GNU General Public License," a copy of which is required to
|
||
be distributed with every copy of GNU Emacs. It is usually in a file
|
||
named `COPYING' in the same directory as this file. These conditions
|
||
are designed to make sure that everyone who has a copy of GNU Emacs
|
||
(including modified versions) has the freedom to redistribute and
|
||
change it.
|
||
|
||
If you do not know anyone to get a copy of GNU Emacs from, you can
|
||
order a cd-rom from the Free Software Foundation. We distribute
|
||
several Emacs versions. We also distribute nicely typeset copies of
|
||
the Emacs user manual, Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, the Emacs
|
||
reference card, etc. See file `ORDERS', or visit
|
||
http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html.
|
||
|
||
If you have Internet access, you can copy the latest Emacs
|
||
distribution from hosts, such as ftp.gnu.org. There are several ways
|
||
to do this; see http://www.gnu.org/software/software.html for more
|
||
information.
|
||
|
||
Emacs has been run on GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and on many
|
||
Unix systems, on a variety of types of cpu. It also works on VMS and
|
||
on Apollo computers, though with some deficiencies that reflect
|
||
problems in these operating systems. See the file `MACHINES' in this
|
||
directory (see above) for a full list of machines that GNU Emacs has
|
||
been tested on, with machine-specific installation notes and warnings.
|
||
There is also an MS-DOS version that works on MS-DOS and all platforms
|
||
that have some kind of ``DOS box'', and also an MS-Windows and a Mac
|
||
version.
|
||
|
||
Note that there is significant variation between Unix systems
|
||
supposedly running the same version of Unix; it is possible that what
|
||
works in GNU Emacs for me does not work on your system due to such an
|
||
incompatibility. Since I must avoid reading Unix source code, I
|
||
cannot even guess what such problems may exist.
|
||
|
||
GNU Emacs is distributed with no warranty (see the General Public
|
||
License for full details, in the file `COPYING' in this directory (see
|
||
above)), and neither I nor the Free Software Foundation promises any
|
||
kind of support or assistance to users. The foundation keeps a list
|
||
of people who are willing to offer support and assistance for hire.
|
||
See http://www.gnu.org/help/gethelp.html.
|
||
|
||
However, we plan to continue to improve GNU Emacs and keep it
|
||
reliable, so please send me any complaints and suggestions you have.
|
||
I will probably fix anything that I consider a malfunction. I may
|
||
make improvements that are suggested, but I may choose not to.
|
||
|
||
If you are on the Internet, report bugs to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org. You
|
||
can use the Emacs command M-x report-bug RET to mail a bug report.
|
||
Please read the Bugs section of the Emacs manual before reporting
|
||
bugs.
|
||
|
||
General questions about the GNU Project can be asked of gnu@gnu.org.
|
||
|
||
If you are a computer manufacturer, I encourage you to ship a copy of
|
||
GNU Emacs with every computer you deliver. The same copying
|
||
permission terms apply to computer manufacturers as to everyone else.
|
||
You should consider making a donation to help support the GNU project;
|
||
if you estimate what it would cost to distribute some commercial
|
||
product and divide it by five, that is a good amount.
|
||
|
||
If you like GNU Emacs, please express your satisfaction with a
|
||
donation: send me or the Foundation what you feel Emacs has been worth
|
||
to you. If you are glad that I developed GNU Emacs and distribute it
|
||
as freeware, rather than following the obstructive and antisocial
|
||
practices typical of software developers, reward me. If you would
|
||
like the Foundation to develop more free software, contribute.
|
||
|
||
Your donations will help to support the development of additional GNU
|
||
software. GNU/Linux systems (variants of GNU, based on the kernel
|
||
Linux) have millions of users, but there is still much to be done.
|
||
For more information on GNU, see the file `GNU' in this directory (see
|
||
above).
|
||
|
||
Richard M Stallman
|
||
Chief GNUisance,
|
||
President of the Free Software Foundation
|