| 1 | Linux and the GNU system |
| 2 | |
| 3 | The GNU project started in 1984 with the goal of developing a complete |
| 4 | free Unix-like operating system: GNU. "Free" refers to freedom, not |
| 5 | price; it means you are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change, |
| 6 | and improve the software. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | A Unix-like system consists of many different programs. We found some |
| 9 | components already available as free software--for example, X Windows |
| 10 | and TeX. We obtained other components by helping to convince their |
| 11 | developers to make them free--for example, the Berkeley network |
| 12 | utilities. This left many missing components that we had to write in |
| 13 | order to produce GNU--for example, GNU Emacs, the GNU C compiler, the |
| 14 | GNU C library, Bash, and Ghostscript. The GNU system consists of all |
| 15 | these components together. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | The GNU project is not just about developing and distributing some |
| 18 | useful free software. The heart of the GNU project is an idea: that |
| 19 | software should be free, that software users should have freedom to |
| 20 | participate in a community. To run your computer, you need an |
| 21 | operating system; if it is not free, your freedom has been denied. To |
| 22 | have freedom, you need a free operating system. We therefore set out |
| 23 | to write one. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | In the long run, though, we cannot expect to keep the free operating |
| 26 | system free unless the users are aware of the freedom it gives them, |
| 27 | and value that freedom. People who do not appreciate their freedom |
| 28 | will not keep it long. If we want to make freedom last, we need to |
| 29 | spread awareness of the freedoms they have in free software. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | The GNU project's method is that free software and the idea of users' |
| 32 | freedom support each other. We develop GNU software, and as people |
| 33 | encounter GNU programs or the GNU system and start to use them, they |
| 34 | also think about the GNU idea. The software shows that the idea can |
| 35 | work in practice. Some of these people come to agree with the idea, |
| 36 | and then they are more likely to write additional free software. |
| 37 | Thus, the software embodies the idea, spreads the idea, and grows from |
| 38 | the idea. |
| 39 | |
| 40 | Early on in the development of GNU, various parts of it became popular |
| 41 | even though users needed proprietary systems to run them on. Porting |
| 42 | the system to many systems and maintaining them required a lot of |
| 43 | work. After that work, most GNU software is easily configured for a |
| 44 | variety of different platforms. |
| 45 | |
| 46 | By 1991, we had found or written all of the essential major components |
| 47 | of the system except the kernel, which we were writing. (This kernel |
| 48 | consists of the Mach microkernel plus the GNU HURD. The first test |
| 49 | release was made in 1996. Now, in 2002, it is running well, and |
| 50 | Hurd-based GNU systems are starting to be used.) |
| 51 | |
| 52 | That was the situation when Linux came into being. Linux is a kernel, |
| 53 | like the kernel of Unix; it was written by Linus Torvalds, who |
| 54 | released it under the GNU General Public License. He did not write |
| 55 | this kernel for GNU, but it fit into the gap in GNU. The combination |
| 56 | of GNU and Linux included all the major essential components of a |
| 57 | Unix-compatible operating system. Other people, with some work made |
| 58 | the combination into a usable system. The principal use of Linux, the |
| 59 | kernel, is as part of this combination. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | The popularity of the GNU/Linux combination is success, in the sense |
| 62 | of popularity, for GNU. Ironically, the popularity of GNU/Linux |
| 63 | undermines our method of communicating the ideas of GNU to people who |
| 64 | use GNU. |
| 65 | |
| 66 | When GNU programs were only usable individually on top of another |
| 67 | operating system, installing and using them meant knowing and |
| 68 | appreciating these programs, and thus being aware of GNU, which led |
| 69 | people to think about the philosophical base of GNU. Now users can |
| 70 | install a unified operating system which is basically GNU, but they |
| 71 | usually think these are "Linux systems". At first impression, a |
| 72 | "Linux system" sounds like something completely distinct from the "GNU |
| 73 | system," and that is what most users think. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | This leads many users to identify themselves as a separate community |
| 76 | of "Linux users", distinct from the GNU user community. They use more |
| 77 | than just some GNU programs, they use almost all of the GNU system, |
| 78 | but they don't think of themselves as GNU users. Often they never |
| 79 | hear about the GNU idea; if they do, they may not think it relates to |
| 80 | them. |
| 81 | |
| 82 | Most introductions to the "Linux system" acknowledge that GNU software |
| 83 | components play a role in it, but they don't say that the system as a |
| 84 | whole is a modified version of the GNU system that the GNU project has |
| 85 | been developing and compiling since Linus Torvalds was in junior high |
| 86 | school. They don't say that the main reason this free operating |
| 87 | exists is that the GNU Project worked persistently to achieve its goal |
| 88 | of freedom. |
| 89 | |
| 90 | As a result, most users don't know these things. They believe that |
| 91 | the "Linux system" was developed by Linus Torvalds "just for fun", and |
| 92 | that their freedom is a matter of good fortune rather than the |
| 93 | dedicated pursuit of freedom. This creates a danger that they will |
| 94 | leave the survival of free software to fortune as well. |
| 95 | |
| 96 | Since human beings tend to correct their first impressions less than |
| 97 | called for by additional information they learn later, these users |
| 98 | will tend to continue to underestimate their connection to GNU even if |
| 99 | they do learn the facts. |
| 100 | |
| 101 | When we began trying to support the GNU/Linux system, we found this |
| 102 | widespread misinformation led to a practical problem--it hampered |
| 103 | cooperation on software maintenance. Normally when users change a GNU |
| 104 | program to make it work better on a particular system, they send the |
| 105 | change to the maintainer of that program; then they work with the |
| 106 | maintainer, explaining the change, arguing for it, and sometimes |
| 107 | rewriting it for the sake of the overall coherence and maintainability |
| 108 | of the package, to get the patch installed. But people who thought of |
| 109 | themselves as "Linux users" showed a tendency to release a forked |
| 110 | "Linux-only" version of the GNU program and consider the job done. In |
| 111 | some cases we had to redo their work in order to make GNU programs run |
| 112 | as released in GNU/Linux systems. |
| 113 | |
| 114 | How should the GNU project encourage its users to cooperate? How |
| 115 | should we spread the idea that freedom for computer users is |
| 116 | important? |
| 117 | |
| 118 | We must continue to talk about the freedom to share and change |
| 119 | software--and to teach other users to value these freedoms. If we |
| 120 | value having a free operating system, it makes sense to think about |
| 121 | preserving those freedoms for the long term. If we value having a |
| 122 | variety of free software, it makes sense to think about encouraging |
| 123 | others to write free software, instead of proprietary software. |
| 124 | |
| 125 | However, it is not enough just to talk about freedom; we must also |
| 126 | make sure people know the reasons it is worth listening to what we |
| 127 | say. |
| 128 | |
| 129 | Long explanations such as our philosophical articles are one way of |
| 130 | informing the public, but you may not want to spend so much time on |
| 131 | the matter. The most effective way you can help with a small amount |
| 132 | of work is simply by using the terms "Linux-based GNU system" or |
| 133 | "GNU/Linux system", instead of "Linux system," when you write about or |
| 134 | mention such a system. Seeing these terms will show many people the |
| 135 | reason to pay attention to our philosophical articles. |
| 136 | |
| 137 | The system as a whole is more GNU than Linux; the name "GNU/Linux" is |
| 138 | fair. When you are choosing the name of a distribution or a user |
| 139 | group, a name with "GNU/Linux" will reflect both roots of the combined |
| 140 | system, and will bring users into connection with both--including the |
| 141 | spirit of freedom and community that is the basis and purpose of GNU. |
| 142 | |
| 143 | |
| 144 | Copyright 1996, 2002 Richard Stallman |
| 145 | Verbatim copying and redistribution is permitted |
| 146 | without royalty as long as this notice is preserved. |
| 147 | |