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1 | -*- text -*- |
2 | For an order form for all Emacs and FSF distributions deliverable from | |
3 | the USA, see the file `ORDERS' in this directory (etc/ in the GNU | |
69155ecc | 4 | Emacs distribution or http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html). |
1bac2ebb | 5 | \f |
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6 | GNU Emacs availability information, October 2000 |
7 | Copyright (C) 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2000 | |
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8 | Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
9 | ||
10 | Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute | |
11 | verbatim copies of this document provided that the | |
12 | copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved. | |
13 | ||
14 | GNU Emacs is legally owned by the Free Software Foundation, but we | |
15 | regard the foundation more as its custodian on behalf of the public. | |
16 | ||
17 | In the GNU project, when we speak of "free software", this refers to | |
18 | liberty, not price. Specifically, it refers to the users' freedom to | |
19 | study, copy, change and improve the software. Sometimes users pay | |
20 | money for copies of GNU software, and sometimes they get copies at no | |
21 | charge. But regardless of how they got the software, or whether it | |
22 | was modified by anyone else along the way, they have the freedom to | |
23 | copy and change it--those freedoms are what "free software" means. | |
24 | ||
25 | The precise conditions for copying and modification are stated in the | |
26 | document "GNU General Public License," a copy of which is required to | |
27 | be distributed with every copy of GNU Emacs. It is usually in a file | |
28 | named `COPYING' in the same directory as this file. These conditions | |
29 | are designed to make sure that everyone who has a copy of GNU Emacs | |
30 | (including modified versions) has the freedom to redistribute and | |
31 | change it. | |
32 | ||
33 | If you do not know anyone to get a copy of GNU Emacs from, you can | |
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34 | order a cd-rom from the Free Software Foundation. We distribute |
35 | several Emacs versions. We also distribute nicely typeset copies of | |
36 | the Emacs user manual, Emacs Lisp Reference Manual, the Emacs | |
37 | reference card, etc. See file `ORDERS', or visit | |
38 | http://www.gnu.org/order/order.html. | |
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39 | |
40 | If you have Internet access, you can copy the latest Emacs | |
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41 | distribution from hosts, such as ftp.gnu.org. There are several ways |
42 | to do this; see http://www.gnu.org/software/software.html for more | |
43 | information. | |
1bac2ebb | 44 | |
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45 | Emacs has been run on GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and on many |
46 | Unix systems, on a variety of types of cpu. It also works on VMS and | |
47 | on Apollo computers, though with some deficiencies that reflect | |
48 | problems in these operating systems. See the file `MACHINES' in this | |
49 | directory (see above) for a full list of machines that GNU Emacs has | |
50 | been tested on, with machine-specific installation notes and warnings. | |
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51 | There is also an MS-DOS version that works on MS-DOS and all platforms |
52 | that have some kind of ``DOS box'', and also an MS-Windows and a Mac | |
53 | version. | |
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54 | |
55 | Note that there is significant variation between Unix systems | |
56 | supposedly running the same version of Unix; it is possible that what | |
57 | works in GNU Emacs for me does not work on your system due to such an | |
58 | incompatibility. Since I must avoid reading Unix source code, I | |
59 | cannot even guess what such problems may exist. | |
60 | ||
61 | GNU Emacs is distributed with no warranty (see the General Public | |
62 | License for full details, in the file `COPYING' in this directory (see | |
63 | above)), and neither I nor the Free Software Foundation promises any | |
64 | kind of support or assistance to users. The foundation keeps a list | |
65 | of people who are willing to offer support and assistance for hire. | |
334c837d | 66 | See http://www.gnu.org/help/gethelp.html. |
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67 | |
68 | However, we plan to continue to improve GNU Emacs and keep it | |
69 | reliable, so please send me any complaints and suggestions you have. | |
70 | I will probably fix anything that I consider a malfunction. I may | |
71 | make improvements that are suggested, but I may choose not to. | |
1bac2ebb | 72 | |
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73 | If you are on the Internet, report bugs to bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org. You |
74 | can use the Emacs command M-x report-bug RET to mail a bug report. | |
75 | Please read the Bugs section of the Emacs manual before reporting | |
76 | bugs. | |
1bac2ebb | 77 | |
334c837d | 78 | General questions about the GNU Project can be asked of gnu@gnu.org. |
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79 | |
80 | If you are a computer manufacturer, I encourage you to ship a copy of | |
81 | GNU Emacs with every computer you deliver. The same copying | |
82 | permission terms apply to computer manufacturers as to everyone else. | |
83 | You should consider making a donation to help support the GNU project; | |
84 | if you estimate what it would cost to distribute some commercial | |
85 | product and divide it by five, that is a good amount. | |
86 | ||
87 | If you like GNU Emacs, please express your satisfaction with a | |
88 | donation: send me or the Foundation what you feel Emacs has been worth | |
89 | to you. If you are glad that I developed GNU Emacs and distribute it | |
90 | as freeware, rather than following the obstructive and antisocial | |
91 | practices typical of software developers, reward me. If you would | |
92 | like the Foundation to develop more free software, contribute. | |
93 | ||
94 | Your donations will help to support the development of additional GNU | |
95 | software. GNU/Linux systems (variants of GNU, based on the kernel | |
96 | Linux) have millions of users, but there is still much to be done. | |
97 | For more information on GNU, see the file `GNU' in this directory (see | |
98 | above). | |
99 | ||
100 | Richard M Stallman | |
101 | Chief GNUisance, | |
102 | President of the Free Software Foundation |