The GNU ManifestoRichard StallmanRay VichotContext for the ManifestoHistory of open community for Software sharing in MA, IBM 701 SHARE, DEC DECUSEarly versions of UNIX distributed at no cost, but with restrictions on modificationBill Gates “Open Letter to Hobbyists” in 1976A Xerox 9700 laser printer in 1980The Manifesto Part 1:DefinitionsGNU's not UNIXWhy write GNUCompatibility/AvailabilityContributingBenefitsThe 4 FreedomsUseStudyModificationDistributionThe Manifesto Part 2:Rebuttals to ObjectionsUse?Reaching People?Compensation to Programmers?Copyright issues (unresolved)?Copyleft?/CopyrightFree as in speech, not beerLicensing scheme preserving the 4 points Private use/modification allowedIf distributing, modifications must be publicSuch schemes have been adaptedHistory since the ManifestoHello everybody out there using minix - I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big andprofessional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing sinceapril, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things peoplelike/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout ofthe file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things). I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. Thisimplies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like toknow what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but Iwon't promise I'll implement them :-) Linus ([email protected]) PS. Yes – it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It isNOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will supportanything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.– Linus TorvaldsCurrently Two free OSes exist: Linux and FreeBSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) Other Free Software have proven popular and financially viable (Apache, for example)Version 3 of the GPL was released in Jan. 2006 and a revision (GNU AGPL) is being discussedFurther Readinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman“An Open Letter to Hobbyists” http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/gateswhine.htmlCrawford, Diane, ed. Intellectual Property in the Age of Universal Access“The Free Software Definition” http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.htmlVersion 3 of the GPL (GPLv3) http://gplv3.fsf.org/“Dual Licensing: Having Your Cake and Eating It Too”
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