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148 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
148 lines
7.5 KiB
Plaintext
Linux and the GNU system
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The GNU project started in 1984 with the goal of developing a complete
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free Unix-like operating system: GNU. "Free" refers to freedom, not
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price; it means you are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change,
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and improve the software.
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A Unix-like system consists of many different programs. We found some
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components already available as free software--for example, X Windows
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and TeX. We obtained other components by helping to convince their
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developers to make them free--for example, the Berkeley network
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utilities. This left many missing components that we had to write in
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order to produce GNU--for example, GNU Emacs, the GNU C compiler, the
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GNU C library, Bash, and Ghostscript. The GNU system consists of all
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these components together.
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The GNU project is not just about developing and distributing some
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useful free software. The heart of the GNU project is an idea: that
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software should be free, that software users should have freedom to
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participate in a community. To run your computer, you need an
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operating system; if it is not free, your freedom has been denied. To
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have freedom, you need a free operating system. We therefore set out
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to write one.
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In the long run, though, we cannot expect to keep the free operating
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system free unless the users are aware of the freedom it gives them,
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and value that freedom. People who do not appreciate their freedom
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will not keep it long. If we want to make freedom last, we need to
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spread awareness of the freedoms they have in free software.
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The GNU project's method is that free software and the idea of users'
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freedom support each other. We develop GNU software, and as people
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encounter GNU programs or the GNU system and start to use them, they
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also think about the GNU idea. The software shows that the idea can
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work in practice. Some of these people come to agree with the idea,
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and then they are more likely to write additional free software.
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Thus, the software embodies the idea, spreads the idea, and grows from
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the idea.
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Early on in the development of GNU, various parts of it became popular
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even though users needed proprietary systems to run them on. Porting
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the system to many systems and maintaining them required a lot of
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work. After that work, most GNU software is easily configured for a
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variety of different platforms.
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By 1991, we had found or written all of the essential major components
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of the system except the kernel, which we were writing. (This kernel
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consists of the Mach microkernel plus the GNU HURD. The first test
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release was made in 1996. Now, in 2002, it is running well, and
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Hurd-based GNU systems are starting to be used.)
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That was the situation when Linux came into being. Linux is a kernel,
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like the kernel of Unix; it was written by Linus Torvalds, who
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released it under the GNU General Public License. He did not write
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this kernel for GNU, but it fit into the gap in GNU. The combination
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of GNU and Linux included all the major essential components of a
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Unix-compatible operating system. Other people, with some work made
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the combination into a usable system. The principal use of Linux, the
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kernel, is as part of this combination.
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The popularity of the GNU/Linux combination is success, in the sense
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of popularity, for GNU. Ironically, the popularity of GNU/Linux
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undermines our method of communicating the ideas of GNU to people who
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use GNU.
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When GNU programs were only usable individually on top of another
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operating system, installing and using them meant knowing and
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appreciating these programs, and thus being aware of GNU, which led
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people to think about the philosophical base of GNU. Now users can
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install a unified operating system which is basically GNU, but they
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usually think these are "Linux systems". At first impression, a
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"Linux system" sounds like something completely distinct from the "GNU
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system," and that is what most users think.
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This leads many users to identify themselves as a separate community
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of "Linux users", distinct from the GNU user community. They use more
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than just some GNU programs, they use almost all of the GNU system,
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but they don't think of themselves as GNU users. Often they never
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hear about the GNU idea; if they do, they may not think it relates to
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them.
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Most introductions to the "Linux system" acknowledge that GNU software
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components play a role in it, but they don't say that the system as a
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whole is a modified version of the GNU system that the GNU project has
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been developing and compiling since Linus Torvalds was in junior high
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school. They don't say that the main reason this free operating
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exists is that the GNU Project worked persistently to achieve its goal
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of freedom.
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As a result, most users don't know these things. They believe that
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the "Linux system" was developed by Linus Torvalds "just for fun", and
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that their freedom is a matter of good fortune rather than the
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dedicated pursuit of freedom. This creates a danger that they will
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leave the survival of free software to fortune as well.
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Since human beings tend to correct their first impressions less than
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called for by additional information they learn later, these users
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will tend to continue to underestimate their connection to GNU even if
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they do learn the facts.
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When we began trying to support the GNU/Linux system, we found this
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widespread misinformation led to a practical problem--it hampered
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cooperation on software maintenance. Normally when users change a GNU
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program to make it work better on a particular system, they send the
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change to the maintainer of that program; then they work with the
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maintainer, explaining the change, arguing for it, and sometimes
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rewriting it for the sake of the overall coherence and maintainability
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of the package, to get the patch installed. But people who thought of
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themselves as "Linux users" showed a tendency to release a forked
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"Linux-only" version of the GNU program and consider the job done. In
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some cases we had to redo their work in order to make GNU programs run
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as released in GNU/Linux systems.
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How should the GNU project encourage its users to cooperate? How
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should we spread the idea that freedom for computer users is
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important?
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We must continue to talk about the freedom to share and change
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software--and to teach other users to value these freedoms. If we
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value having a free operating system, it makes sense to think about
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preserving those freedoms for the long term. If we value having a
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variety of free software, it makes sense to think about encouraging
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others to write free software, instead of proprietary software.
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However, it is not enough just to talk about freedom; we must also
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make sure people know the reasons it is worth listening to what we
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say.
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Long explanations such as our philosophical articles are one way of
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informing the public, but you may not want to spend so much time on
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the matter. The most effective way you can help with a small amount
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of work is simply by using the terms "Linux-based GNU system" or
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"GNU/Linux system", instead of "Linux system," when you write about or
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mention such a system. Seeing these terms will show many people the
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reason to pay attention to our philosophical articles.
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The system as a whole is more GNU than Linux; the name "GNU/Linux" is
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fair. When you are choosing the name of a distribution or a user
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group, a name with "GNU/Linux" will reflect both roots of the combined
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system, and will bring users into connection with both--including the
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spirit of freedom and community that is the basis and purpose of GNU.
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Copyright 1996, 2002 Richard Stallman
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Verbatim copying and redistribution is permitted
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without royalty as long as this notice is preserved.
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