# LANGUAGE translation of https://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc. # This file is distributed under the same license as the original article. # FIRST AUTHOR , YEAR. # #, fuzzy msgid "" msgstr "" "Project-Id-Version: thegnuproject.html\n" "POT-Creation-Date: 2025-01-20 10:26+0000\n" "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n" "Last-Translator: FULL NAME \n" "Language-Team: LANGUAGE \n" "Language: \n" "MIME-Version: 1.0\n" "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n" "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n" #. type: Content of: msgid "About the GNU Project - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Attribute 'content' of: <meta> msgid "GNU, GNU Project, FSF, Free Software, Free Software Foundation, History" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h2> msgid "The GNU Project" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><address> msgid "by <a href=\"https://www.stallman.org/\">Richard Stallman</a>" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The first software-sharing community" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "When I started working at the <abbr title=\"Massachusetts Institute of " "Technology\">MIT</abbr> Artificial Intelligence Lab in 1971, I became part " "of a software-sharing community that had existed for many years. Sharing of " "software was not limited to our particular community; it is as old as " "computers, just as sharing of recipes is as old as cooking. But we did it " "more than most." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The AI Lab used a timesharing operating system called <abbr " "title=\"Incompatible Timesharing System\">ITS</abbr> (the Incompatible " "Timesharing System) that the lab's staff hackers had designed and written in " "assembler language for the Digital <abbr title=\"Programmed Data " "Processor\">PDP</abbr>-10, one of the large computers of the era <a " "href=\"#ft1\">[1]</a>. As a member of this community, an AI Lab staff " "system hacker, my job was to improve this system." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "We did not call our software “free software,” because that term " "did not yet exist; but that is what it was. Whenever people from another " "university or a company wanted to port and use a program, we gladly let " "them. If you saw someone using an unfamiliar and interesting program, you " "could always ask to see the source code, so that you could read it, change " "it, or cannibalize parts of it to make a new program." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Why it is even more important than ever <a " "href=\"/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html\">to insist that " "the software we use be free</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The collapse of the community" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The situation changed drastically in the early 1980s when Digital " "discontinued the PDP-10 series. Its architecture, elegant and powerful in " "the 60s, could not extend naturally to the larger address spaces that were " "becoming feasible in the 80s. This meant that nearly all of the programs " "composing ITS were obsolete." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The AI Lab hacker community had already collapsed, not long before. In " "1981, the spin-off company Symbolics had hired away nearly all of the " "hackers from the AI Lab, and the depopulated community was unable to " "maintain itself. (The book <cite>Hackers</cite>, by Steve Levy, describes " "these events, as well as giving a clear picture of this community in its " "prime.) When the AI Lab bought a new PDP-10 in 1982, its administrators " "decided to use Digital's nonfree timesharing system instead of ITS." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The modern computers of the era, such as the VAX or the 68020, had their own " "operating systems, but none of them were free software: you had to sign a " "nondisclosure agreement even to get an executable copy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This meant that the first step in using a computer was to promise not to " "help your neighbor. A cooperating community was forbidden. The rule made " "by the owners of proprietary software was, “If you share with your " "neighbor, you are a pirate. If you want any changes, beg us to make " "them.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The idea that the proprietary software social system—the system that " "says you are not allowed to share or change software—is antisocial, " "that it is unethical, that it is simply wrong, may come as a surprise to " "some readers. But what else could we say about a system based on dividing " "the public and keeping users helpless? Readers who find the idea surprising " "may have taken the proprietary software social system as a given, or judged " "it on the terms suggested by proprietary software businesses. Software " "publishers have worked long and hard to convince people that there is only " "one way to look at the issue." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "When software publishers talk about “enforcing” their " "“rights” or “stopping <a " "href=\"/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Piracy\">piracy</a>,” what they " "actually <em>say</em> is secondary. The real message of these statements is " "in the unstated assumptions they take for granted, which the public is asked " "to accept without examination. Let's therefore examine them." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "One assumption is that software companies have an unquestionable natural " "right to own software and thus have power over all its users. (If this were " "a natural right, then no matter how much harm it does to the public, we " "could not object.) Interestingly, the US Constitution and legal tradition " "reject this view; copyright is not a natural right, but an artificial " "government-imposed monopoly that limits the users' natural right to copy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Another unstated assumption is that the only important thing about software " "is what jobs it allows you to do—that we computer users should not " "care what kind of society we are allowed to have." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "A third assumption is that we would have no usable software (or would never " "have a program to do this or that particular job) if we did not offer a " "company power over the users of the program. This assumption may have " "seemed plausible, before the free software movement demonstrated that we can " "make plenty of useful software without putting chains on it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If we decline to accept these assumptions, and judge these issues based on " "ordinary commonsense morality while placing the users first, we arrive at " "very different conclusions. Computer users should be free to modify " "programs to fit their needs, and free to share software, because helping " "other people is the basis of society." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There is no room here for an extensive statement of the reasoning behind " "this conclusion, so I refer the reader to “<a " "href=\"/philosophy/why-free.html\">Why Software Should Not Have " "Owners</a>,” and “<a " "href=\"/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html\">Free Software Is " "Even More Important Now</a>.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "A stark moral choice" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "With my community gone, to continue as before was impossible. Instead, I " "faced a stark moral choice." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The easy choice was to join the proprietary software world, signing " "nondisclosure agreements and promising not to help my fellow hacker. Most " "likely I would also be developing software that was released under " "nondisclosure agreements, thus adding to the pressure on other people to " "betray their fellows too." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I could have made money this way, and perhaps amused myself writing code. " "But I knew that at the end of my career, I would look back on years of " "building walls to divide people, and feel I had spent my life making the " "world a worse place." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I had already experienced being on the receiving end of a nondisclosure " "agreement, when someone refused to give me and the MIT AI Lab the source " "code for the control program for our printer. (The lack of certain features " "in this program made use of the printer extremely frustrating.) So I could " "not tell myself that nondisclosure agreements were innocent. I was very " "angry when he refused to share with us; I could not turn around and do the " "same thing to everyone else." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Another choice, straightforward but unpleasant, was to leave the computer " "field. That way my skills would not be misused, but they would still be " "wasted. I would not be culpable for dividing and restricting computer " "users, but it would happen nonetheless." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "So I looked for a way that a programmer could do something for the good. I " "asked myself, was there a program or programs that I could write, so as to " "make a community possible once again?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The answer was clear: what was needed first was an operating system. That " "is the crucial software for starting to use a computer. With an operating " "system, you can do many things; without one, you cannot run the computer at " "all. With a free operating system, we could again have a community of " "cooperating hackers—and invite anyone to join. And anyone would be " "able to use a computer without starting out by conspiring to deprive his or " "her friends." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "As an operating system developer, I had the right skills for this job. So " "even though I could not take success for granted, I realized that I was " "elected to do the job. I chose to make the system compatible with Unix so " "that it would be portable, and so that Unix users could easily switch to " "it. The name GNU was chosen, following a hacker tradition, as a recursive " "acronym for “GNU's Not Unix.” It is pronounced as <a " "href=\"/gnu/pronunciation.html\">one syllable with a hard <i>g</i></a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "An operating system does not mean just a kernel, barely enough to run other " "programs. In the 1970s, every operating system worthy of the name included " "command processors, assemblers, compilers, interpreters, debuggers, text " "editors, mailers, and much more. ITS had them, Multics had them, VMS had " "them, and Unix had them. The GNU operating system would include them too." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Later I heard these words, attributed to Hillel <a " "href=\"#ft2\">[2]</a>:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><blockquote><p> msgid "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><blockquote><p> msgid "If I am only for myself, what am I?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><blockquote><p> msgid "If not now, when?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "The decision to start the GNU Project was based on a similar spirit." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Free as in freedom" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The term “free software” is sometimes misunderstood—it has " "nothing to do with price. It is about freedom. Here, therefore, is the " "definition of free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "A program is free software, for you, a particular user, if:" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "You have the freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "" "You have the freedom to modify the program to suit your needs. (To make " "this freedom effective in practice, you must have access to the source code, " "since making changes in a program without having the source code is " "exceedingly difficult.)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "You have the freedom to redistribute copies, either gratis or for a fee." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ul><li> msgid "" "You have the freedom to distribute modified versions of the program, so that " "the community can benefit from your improvements." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Since “free” refers to freedom, not to price, there is no " "contradiction between selling copies and free software. In fact, the " "freedom to sell copies is crucial: collections of free software sold on " "CD-ROMs are important for the community, and selling them is an important " "way to raise funds for free software development. Therefore, a program " "which people are not free to include on these collections is not free " "software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Because of the ambiguity of “free,” people have long looked for " "alternatives, but no one has found a better term. The English language has " "more words and nuances than any other, but it lacks a simple, unambiguous, " "word that means “free,” as in " "freedom—“unfettered” being the word that comes closest in " "meaning. Such alternatives as “liberated,” " "“freedom,” and “open” have either the wrong meaning " "or some other disadvantage." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "GNU software and the GNU system" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Developing a whole system is a very large project. To bring it into reach, " "I decided to adapt and use existing pieces of free software wherever that " "was possible. For example, I decided at the very beginning to use TeX as " "the principal text formatter; a few years later, I decided to use the X " "Window System rather than writing another window system for GNU." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Because of these decisions, and others like them, the GNU system is not the " "same as the collection of all GNU software. The GNU system includes " "programs that are not GNU software, programs that were developed by other " "people and projects for their own purposes, but which we can use because " "they are free software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Commencing the project" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In January 1984 I quit my job at MIT and began writing GNU software. " "Leaving MIT was necessary so that MIT would not be able to interfere with " "distributing GNU as free software. If I had remained on the staff, MIT " "could have claimed to own the work, and could have imposed their own " "distribution terms, or even turned the work into a proprietary software " "package. I had no intention of doing a large amount of work only to see it " "become useless for its intended purpose: creating a new software-sharing " "community." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "However, Professor Winston, then the head of the MIT AI Lab, kindly invited " "me to keep using the lab's facilities." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The first steps" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Shortly before beginning the GNU Project, I heard about the Free University " "Compiler Kit, also known as VUCK. (The Dutch word for “free” is " "written with a <i>v</i>.) This was a compiler designed to handle multiple " "languages, including C and Pascal, and to support multiple target machines. " "I wrote to its author asking if GNU could use it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "He responded derisively, stating that the university was free but the " "compiler was not. I therefore decided that my first program for the GNU " "Project would be a multilanguage, multiplatform compiler." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Hoping to avoid the need to write the whole compiler myself, I obtained the " "source code for the Pastel compiler, which was a multiplatform compiler " "developed at Lawrence Livermore Lab. It supported, and was written in, an " "extended version of Pascal, designed to be a system-programming language. I " "added a C front end, and began porting it to the Motorola 68000 computer. " "But I had to give that up when I discovered that the compiler needed many " "megabytes of stack space, and the available 68000 Unix system would only " "allow 64k." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I then realized that the Pastel compiler functioned by parsing the entire " "input file into a syntax tree, converting the whole syntax tree into a chain " "of “instructions,” and then generating the whole output file, " "without ever freeing any storage. At this point, I concluded I would have " "to write a new compiler from scratch. That new compiler is now known as " "<abbr title=\"GNU Compiler Collection\">GCC</abbr>; none of the Pastel " "compiler is used in it, but I managed to adapt and use the C front end that " "I had written. But that was some years later; first, I worked on GNU Emacs." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "GNU Emacs" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I began work on GNU Emacs in September 1984, and in early 1985 it was " "beginning to be usable. This enabled me to begin using Unix systems to do " "editing; having no interest in learning to use vi or ed, I had done my " "editing on other kinds of machines until then." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "At this point, people began wanting to use GNU Emacs, which raised the " "question of how to distribute it. Of course, I put it on the anonymous ftp " "server on the MIT computer that I used. (This computer, prep.ai.mit.edu, " "thus became the principal GNU ftp distribution site; when it was " "decommissioned a few years later, we transferred the name to our new ftp " "server.) But at that time, many of the interested people were not on the " "Internet and could not get a copy by ftp. So the question was, what would I " "say to them?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "I could have said, “Find a friend who is on the net and who will make " "a copy for you.” Or I could have done what I did with the original " "PDP-10 Emacs: tell them, “Mail me a tape and a <abbr " "title=\"Self-addressed Stamped Envelope\">SASE</abbr>, and I will mail it " "back with Emacs on it.” But I had no job, and I was looking for ways " "to make money from free software. So I announced that I would mail a tape " "to whoever wanted one, for a fee of $150. In this way, I started a free " "software distribution business, the precursor of the companies that today " "distribute entire GNU/Linux system distributions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Is a program free for every user?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "If a program is free software when it leaves the hands of its author, this " "does not necessarily mean it will be free software for everyone who has a " "copy of it. For example, <a " "href=\"/philosophy/categories.html#PublicDomainSoftware\"> public domain " "software</a> (software that is not copyrighted) is free software; but anyone " "can make a proprietary modified version of it. Likewise, many free programs " "are copyrighted but distributed under simple permissive licenses which allow " "proprietary modified versions." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The paradigmatic example of this problem is the X Window System. Developed " "at MIT, and released as free software with a permissive license, it was soon " "adopted by various computer companies. They added X to their proprietary " "Unix systems, in binary form only, and covered by the same nondisclosure " "agreement. These copies of X were no more free software than Unix was." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The developers of the X Window System did not consider this a " "problem—they expected and intended this to happen. Their goal was not " "freedom, just “success,” defined as “having many " "users.” They did not care whether these users had freedom, only that " "they should be numerous." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This led to a paradoxical situation where two different ways of counting the " "amount of freedom gave different answers to the question, “Is this " "program free?” If you judged based on the freedom provided by the " "distribution terms of the MIT release, you would say that X was free " "software. But if you measured the freedom of the average user of X, you " "would have to say it was proprietary software. Most X users were running " "the proprietary versions that came with Unix systems, not the free version." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Copyleft and the GNU GPL" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The goal of GNU was to give users freedom, not just to be popular. So we " "needed to use distribution terms that would prevent GNU software from being " "turned into proprietary software. The method we use is called " "“copyleft” <a href=\"#ft3\">[3]</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Copyleft uses copyright law, but flips it over to serve the opposite of its " "usual purpose: instead of a means for restricting a program, it becomes a " "means for keeping the program free." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The central idea of copyleft is that we give everyone permission to run the " "program, copy the program, modify the program, and distribute modified " "versions—but not permission to add restrictions of their own. Thus, " "the crucial freedoms that define “free software” are guaranteed " "to everyone who has a copy; they become inalienable rights." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For an effective copyleft, modified versions must also be free. This " "ensures that work based on ours becomes available to our community if it is " "published. When programmers who have jobs as programmers volunteer to " "improve GNU software, it is copyleft that prevents their employers from " "saying, “You can't share those changes, because we are going to use " "them to make our proprietary version of the program.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The requirement that changes must be free is essential if we want to ensure " "freedom for every user of the program. The companies that privatized the X " "Window System usually made some changes to port it to their systems and " "hardware. These changes were small compared with the great extent of X, but " "they were not trivial. If making changes were an excuse to deny the users " "freedom, it would be easy for anyone to take advantage of the excuse." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "A related issue concerns combining a free program with nonfree code. Such a " "combination would inevitably be nonfree; whichever freedoms are lacking for " "the nonfree part would be lacking for the whole as well. To permit such " "combinations would open a hole big enough to sink a ship. Therefore, a " "crucial requirement for copyleft is to plug this hole: anything added to or " "combined with a copylefted program must be such that the larger combined " "version is also free and copylefted." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The specific implementation of copyleft that we use for most GNU software is " "the GNU General Public License, or GNU GPL for short. We have other kinds " "of copyleft that are used in specific circumstances. GNU manuals are " "copylefted also, but use a much simpler kind of copyleft, because the " "complexity of the GNU GPL is not necessary for manuals <a " "href=\"#ft4\">[4]</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The Free Software Foundation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "As interest in using Emacs was growing, other people became involved in the " "GNU project, and we decided that it was time to seek funding once again to " "support the development of the GNU operating system. So in 1985 I brought " "in friends who cared about the goal, and created the <a " "href=\"https://www.fsf.org/\">Free Software Foundation</a> (FSF), a " "tax-exempt charity for free software development. The FSF also took over " "the Emacs tape distribution business; later it extended this by adding other " "free software (both GNU and non-GNU) to the tape, and by selling free " "(freedom-respecting) manuals as well." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Most of the FSF's income used to come from sales of copies of free software " "and of other related services (CD-ROMs of source code, CD-ROMs with " "binaries, nicely printed manuals, all with the freedom to redistribute and " "modify), and Deluxe Distributions (distributions for which we built the " "whole collection of software for the customer's choice of platform). Today " "the FSF still <a href=\"https://shop.fsf.org/\"> sells manuals and other " "gear</a>, but it gets the bulk of its funding from members' dues. You can " "join the FSF at <a href=\"https://my.fsf.org/join\">fsf.org</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Free Software Foundation employees have written and maintained a number of " "GNU software packages. Two notable ones are the C library and the shell. " "The GNU C library is what every program running on a GNU/Linux system uses " "to communicate with Linux. It was developed by a member of the Free " "Software Foundation staff, Roland McGrath. The shell used on most GNU/Linux " "systems is BASH, the Bourne Again SHell <a href=\"#ft5\">[5]</a>, " "which was developed by FSF employee Brian Fox." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "We funded development of these programs because the GNU Project was not just " "about tools or a development environment. Our goal was a complete operating " "system, and these programs were needed for that goal." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Free software support" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The free software philosophy rejects a specific widespread business " "practice, but it is not against business. When businesses respect the " "users' freedom, we wish them success." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Selling copies of Emacs demonstrates one kind of free software business. " "When the FSF took over that business, I needed another way to make a " "living. I found it in selling services relating to the free software I had " "developed. This included teaching, for subjects such as how to program GNU " "Emacs and how to customize GCC, and software development, mostly porting GCC " "to new platforms." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Today each of these kinds of free software business is practiced by a number " "of corporations. Some distribute free software collections on CD-ROM; " "others sell support at levels ranging from answering user questions, to " "fixing bugs, to adding major new features. We are even beginning to see " "free software companies based on launching new free software products." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Watch out, though—a number of companies that associate themselves with " "the term “open source” actually base their business on nonfree " "software that works with free software. These are not free software " "companies, they are proprietary software companies whose products tempt " "users away from freedom. They call these programs “value-added " "packages,” which shows the values they would like us to adopt: " "convenience above freedom. If we value freedom more, we should call them " "“freedom-subtracted” packages." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Technical goals" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The principal goal of GNU is to be free software. Even if GNU had no " "technical advantage over Unix, it would have a social advantage, allowing " "users to cooperate, and an ethical advantage, respecting the user's freedom." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But it was natural to apply the known standards of good practice to the " "work—for example, dynamically allocating data structures to avoid " "arbitrary fixed size limits, and handling all the possible 8-bit codes " "wherever that made sense." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In addition, we rejected the Unix focus on small memory size, by deciding " "not to support 16-bit machines (it was clear that 32-bit machines would be " "the norm by the time the GNU system was finished), and to make no effort to " "reduce memory usage unless it exceeded a megabyte. In programs for which " "handling very large files was not crucial, we encouraged programmers to read " "an entire input file into core, then scan its contents without having to " "worry about I/O." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "These decisions enabled many GNU programs to surpass their Unix counterparts " "in reliability and speed." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Donated computers" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "As the GNU Project's reputation grew, people began offering to donate " "machines running Unix to the project. These were very useful, because the " "easiest way to develop components of GNU was to do it on a Unix system, and " "replace the components of that system one by one. But they raised an " "ethical issue: whether it was right for us to have a copy of Unix at all." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Unix was (and is) proprietary software, and the GNU Project's philosophy " "said that we should not use proprietary software. But, applying the same " "reasoning that leads to the conclusion that violence in self defense is " "justified, I concluded that it was legitimate to use a proprietary package " "when that was crucial for developing a free replacement that would help " "others stop using the proprietary package." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But, even if this was a justifiable evil, it was still an evil. Today we no " "longer have any copies of Unix, because we have replaced them with free " "operating systems. If we could not replace a machine's operating system " "with a free one, we replaced the machine instead." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The GNU Task List" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "As the GNU Project proceeded, and increasing numbers of system components " "were found or developed, eventually it became useful to make a list of the " "remaining gaps. We used it to recruit developers to write the missing " "pieces. This list became known as the GNU Task List. In addition to " "missing Unix components, we listed various other useful software and " "documentation projects that, we thought, a truly complete system ought to " "have." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Today <a href=\"#ft6\">[6]</a>, hardly any Unix components are left in " "the GNU Task List—those jobs had been done, aside from a few " "inessential ones. But the list is full of projects that some might call " "“applications.” Any program that appeals to more than a narrow " "class of users would be a useful thing to add to an operating system." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Even games are included in the task list—and have been since the " "beginning. Unix included games, so naturally GNU should too. But " "compatibility was not an issue for games, so we did not follow the list of " "games that Unix had. Instead, we listed a spectrum of different kinds of " "games that users might like." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The GNU Lesser GPL" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The GNU C library uses a special kind of copyleft called the GNU Lesser " "General Public License <a href=\"#ft7\">[7]</a>, which gives " "permission to link proprietary software with the library. Why make this " "exception?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It is not a matter of principle; there is no principle that says proprietary " "software products are entitled to include our code. (Why contribute to a " "project predicated on refusing to share with us?) Using the LGPL for the C " "library, or for any library, is a matter of strategy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The C library does a generic job; every proprietary system or compiler comes " "with a C library. Therefore, to make our C library available only to free " "software would not have given free software any advantage—it would " "only have discouraged use of our library." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "One system is an exception to this: on the GNU system (and this includes " "GNU/Linux), the GNU C library is the only C library. So the distribution " "terms of the GNU C library determine whether it is possible to compile a " "proprietary program for the GNU system. There is no ethical reason to allow " "proprietary applications on the GNU system, but strategically it seems that " "disallowing them would do more to discourage use of the GNU system than to " "encourage development of free applications. That is why using the Lesser " "GPL is a good strategy for the C library." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For other libraries, the strategic decision needs to be considered on a " "case-by-case basis. When a library does a special job that can help write " "certain kinds of programs, then releasing it under the GPL, limiting it to " "free programs only, is a way of helping other free software developers, " "giving them an advantage against proprietary software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Consider GNU Readline, a library that was developed to provide command-line " "editing for BASH. Readline is released under the ordinary GNU GPL, not the " "Lesser GPL. This probably does reduce the amount Readline is used, but that " "is no loss for us. Meanwhile, at least one useful application has been made " "free software specifically so it could use Readline, and that is a real gain " "for the community." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Proprietary software developers have the advantages money provides; free " "software developers need to make advantages for each other. I hope some day " "we will have a large collection of GPL-covered libraries that have no " "parallel available to proprietary software, providing useful modules to " "serve as building blocks in new free software, and adding up to a major " "advantage for further free software development." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Scratching an itch?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Eric Raymond says that “Every good work of software starts by " "scratching a developer's personal itch.” Maybe that happens sometimes, " "but many essential pieces of GNU software were developed in order to have a " "complete free operating system. They come from a vision and a plan, not " "from impulse." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "For example, we developed the GNU C library because a Unix-like system needs " "a C library, BASH because a Unix-like system needs a shell, and GNU tar " "because a Unix-like system needs a tar program. The same is true for my own " "programs—the GNU C compiler, GNU Emacs, GDB and GNU Make." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Some GNU programs were developed to cope with specific threats to our " "freedom. Thus, we developed gzip to replace the Compress program, which had " "been lost to the community because of the <abbr " "title=\"Lempel-Ziv-Welch\">LZW</abbr> patents. We found people to develop " "LessTif, and more recently started <abbr title=\"GNU Network Object Model " "Environment\">GNOME</abbr> and Harmony, to address the problems caused by " "certain proprietary libraries (see below). We are developing the GNU " "Privacy Guard to replace popular nonfree encryption software, because users " "should not have to choose between privacy and freedom." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Of course, the people writing these programs became interested in the work, " "and many features were added to them by various people for the sake of their " "own needs and interests. But that is not why the programs exist." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Unexpected developments" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "At the beginning of the GNU Project, I imagined that we would develop the " "whole GNU system, then release it as a whole. That is not how it happened." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Since each component of the GNU system was implemented on a Unix system, " "each component could run on Unix systems long before a complete GNU system " "existed. Some of these programs became popular, and users began extending " "them and porting them—to the various incompatible versions of Unix, " "and sometimes to other systems as well." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The process made these programs much more powerful, and attracted both funds " "and contributors to the GNU Project. But it probably also delayed " "completion of a minimal working system by several years, as GNU developers' " "time was put into maintaining these ports and adding features to the " "existing components, rather than moving on to write one missing component " "after another." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "The GNU Hurd" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "By 1990, the GNU system was almost complete; the only major missing " "component was the kernel. We had decided to implement our kernel as a " "collection of server processes running on top of Mach. Mach is a " "microkernel developed at Carnegie Mellon University and then at the " "University of Utah; the GNU Hurd is a collection of servers (i.e., a herd of " "GNUs) that run on top of Mach, and do the various jobs of the Unix kernel. " "The start of development was delayed as we waited for Mach to be released as " "free software, as had been promised." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "One reason for choosing this design was to avoid what seemed to be the " "hardest part of the job: debugging a kernel program without a source-level " "debugger to do it with. This part of the job had been done already, in " "Mach, and we expected to debug the Hurd servers as user programs, with GDB. " "But it took a long time to make that possible, and the multithreaded servers " "that send messages to each other have turned out to be very hard to debug. " "Making the Hurd work solidly has stretched on for many years." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Alix" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The GNU kernel was not originally supposed to be called the Hurd. Its " "original name was Alix—named after the woman who was my sweetheart at " "the time. She, a Unix system administrator, had pointed out how her name " "would fit a common naming pattern for Unix system versions; as a joke, she " "told her friends, “Someone should name a kernel after me.” I " "said nothing, but decided to surprise her with a kernel named Alix." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "It did not stay that way. Michael (now Thomas) Bushnell, the main developer " "of the kernel, preferred the name Hurd, and redefined Alix to refer to a " "certain part of the kernel—the part that would trap system calls and " "handle them by sending messages to Hurd servers." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Later, Alix and I broke up, and she changed her name; independently, the " "Hurd design was changed so that the C library would send messages directly " "to servers, and this made the Alix component disappear from the design." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But before these things happened, a friend of hers came across the name Alix " "in the Hurd source code, and mentioned it to her. So she did have the " "chance to find a kernel named after her." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Linux and GNU/Linux" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The GNU Hurd is not suitable for production use, and we don't know if it " "ever will be. The capability-based design has problems that result directly " "from the flexibility of the design, and it is not clear whether solutions " "exist." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Fortunately, another kernel is available. In 1991, Linus Torvalds developed " "a Unix-compatible kernel and called it Linux. It was proprietary at first, " "but in 1992, he made it free software; combining Linux with the " "not-quite-complete GNU system resulted in a complete free operating system. " "(Combining them was a substantial job in itself, of course.) It is due to " "Linux that we can actually run a version of the GNU system today." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "We call this system version <a href=\"/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html\"> " "GNU/Linux</a>, to express its composition as a combination of the GNU system " "with Linux as the kernel. Please don't fall into the practice of calling " "the whole system “Linux,” since that means attributing our work " "to someone else. Please <a href=\"/gnu/gnu-linux-faq.html\"> give us equal " "mention</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Challenges in our future" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "We have proved our ability to develop a broad spectrum of free software. " "This does not mean we are invincible and unstoppable. Several challenges " "make the future of free software uncertain; meeting them will require " "steadfast effort and endurance, sometimes lasting for years. It will " "require the kind of determination that people display when they value their " "freedom and will not let anyone take it away." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "The following four sections discuss these challenges." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h4> msgid "Secret hardware" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Hardware manufacturers increasingly tend to keep hardware specifications " "secret. This makes it difficult to write free drivers so that Linux and " "XFree86 can support new hardware. We have complete free systems today, but " "we will not have them tomorrow if we cannot support tomorrow's computers." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There are two ways to cope with this problem. Programmers can do reverse " "engineering to figure out how to support the hardware. The rest of us can " "choose the hardware that is supported by free software; as our numbers " "increase, secrecy of specifications will become a self-defeating policy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Reverse engineering is a big job; will we have programmers with sufficient " "determination to undertake it? Yes—if we have built up a strong " "feeling that free software is a matter of principle, and nonfree drivers are " "intolerable. And will large numbers of us spend extra money, or even a " "little extra time, so we can use free drivers? Yes, if the determination to " "have freedom is widespread <a href=\"#ft8\">[8]</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h4> msgid "Nonfree libraries" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "A nonfree library that runs on free operating systems acts as a trap for " "free software developers. The library's attractive features are the bait; " "if you use the library, you fall into the trap, because your program cannot " "usefully be part of a free operating system. (Strictly speaking, we could " "include your program, but it won't <em>run</em> with the library missing.) " "Even worse, if a program that uses the proprietary library becomes popular, " "it can lure other unsuspecting programmers into the trap." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The first instance of this problem was the Motif toolkit, back in the 80s. " "Although there were as yet no free operating systems, it was clear what " "problem Motif would cause for them later on. The GNU Project responded in " "two ways: by asking individual free software projects to support the free X " "Toolkit widgets as well as Motif, and by asking for someone to write a free " "replacement for Motif. The job took many years; LessTif, developed by the " "Hungry Programmers, became powerful enough to support most Motif " "applications only in 1997." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Between 1996 and 1998, another nonfree <abbr title=\"Graphical User " "Interface\">GUI</abbr> toolkit library, called Qt, was used in a substantial " "collection of free software, the desktop <abbr title=\"K Desktop " "Environment\">KDE</abbr>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Free GNU/Linux systems were unable to use KDE, because we could not use the " "library. However, some commercial distributors of GNU/Linux systems who " "were not strict about sticking with free software added KDE to their " "systems—producing a system with more capabilities, but less freedom. " "The KDE group was actively encouraging more programmers to use Qt, and " "millions of new “Linux users” had never been exposed to the idea " "that there was a problem in this. The situation appeared grim." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The free software community responded to the problem in two ways: GNOME and " "Harmony." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "GNOME, the GNU Network Object Model Environment, is GNU's desktop project. " "Started in 1997 by Miguel de Icaza, and developed with the support of Red " "Hat Software, GNOME set out to provide similar desktop facilities, but using " "free software exclusively. It has technical advantages as well, such as " "supporting a variety of languages, not just C++. But its main purpose was " "freedom: not to require the use of any nonfree software." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Harmony is a compatible replacement library, designed to make it possible to " "run KDE software without using Qt." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "In November 1998, the developers of Qt announced a change of license which, " "when carried out, should make Qt free software. There is no way to be sure, " "but I think that this was partly due to the community's firm response to the " "problem that Qt posed when it was nonfree. (The new license is inconvenient " "and inequitable, so it remains desirable to avoid using Qt <a " "href=\"#ft9\">[9]</a>.)" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "How will we respond to the next tempting nonfree library? Will the whole " "community understand the need to stay out of the trap? Or will many of us " "give up freedom for convenience, and produce a major problem? Our future " "depends on our philosophy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h4> msgid "Software patents" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The worst threat we face comes from software patents, which can put " "algorithms and features off limits to free software for up to twenty years. " "The LZW compression algorithm patents were applied for in 1983, and we still " "cannot release free software to produce proper compressed <abbr " "title=\"Graphics Interchange Format\">GIF</abbr> <a " "href=\"#ft10\">[10]</a>. In 1998, a free program to produce <abbr " "title=\"MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3\">MP3</abbr> compressed audio was removed from " "distribution under threat of a patent suit <a href=\"#ft11\">[11]</a>." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "There are ways to cope with patents: we can search for evidence that a " "patent is invalid, and we can look for alternative ways to do a job. But " "each of these methods works only sometimes; when both fail, a patent may " "force all free software to lack some feature that users want. After a long " "wait, the patents expire, but what will we do until then?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Those of us who value free software for freedom's sake will stay with free " "software anyway. We will manage to get work done without the patented " "features. But those who value free software because they expect it to be " "technically superior are likely to call it a failure when a patent holds it " "back. Thus, while it is useful to talk about the practical effectiveness of " "the “bazaar” model of development, and the reliability and power " "of some free software, we must not stop there. We must talk about freedom " "and principle." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h4> msgid "Free documentation" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The biggest deficiency in our free operating systems is not in the " "software—it is the lack of good free manuals that we can include in " "our systems. Documentation is an essential part of any software package; " "when an important free software package does not come with a good free " "manual, that is a major gap. We have many such gaps today." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Free documentation, like free software, is a matter of freedom, not price. " "The criterion for a free manual is pretty much the same as for free " "software: it is a matter of giving all users certain freedoms. " "Redistribution (including commercial sale) must be permitted, online and on " "paper, so that the manual can accompany every copy of the program." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Permission for modification is crucial too. As a general rule, I don't " "believe that it is essential for people to have permission to modify all " "sorts of articles and books. For example, I don't think you or I are " "obliged to give permission to modify articles like this one, which describe " "our actions and our views." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But there is a particular reason why the freedom to modify is crucial for " "documentation for free software. When people exercise their right to modify " "the software, and add or change its features, if they are conscientious they " "will change the manual, too—so they can provide accurate and usable " "documentation with the modified program. A nonfree manual, which does not " "allow programmers to be conscientious and finish the job, does not fill our " "community's needs." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Some kinds of limits on how modifications are done pose no problem. For " "example, requirements to preserve the original author's copyright notice, " "the distribution terms, or the list of authors, are OK. It is also no " "problem to require modified versions to include notice that they were " "modified, even to have entire sections that may not be deleted or changed, " "as long as these sections deal with nontechnical topics. These kinds of " "restrictions are not a problem because they don't stop the conscientious " "programmer from adapting the manual to fit the modified program. In other " "words, they don't block the free software community from making full use of " "the manual." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "However, it must be possible to modify all the <em>technical</em> content of " "the manual, and then distribute the result in all the usual media, through " "all the usual channels; otherwise, the restrictions do obstruct the " "community, the manual is not free, and we need another manual." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Will free software developers have the awareness and determination to " "produce a full spectrum of free manuals? Once again, our future depends on " "philosophy." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "We must talk about freedom" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Estimates today are that there are ten million users of GNU/Linux systems " "such as Debian GNU/Linux and Red Hat “Linux.” Free software has " "developed such practical advantages that users are flocking to it for purely " "practical reasons." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The good consequences of this are evident: more interest in developing free " "software, more customers for free software businesses, and more ability to " "encourage companies to develop commercial free software instead of " "proprietary software products." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But interest in the software is growing faster than awareness of the " "philosophy it is based on, and this leads to trouble. Our ability to meet " "the challenges and threats described above depends on the will to stand firm " "for freedom. To make sure our community has this will, we need to spread " "the idea to the new users as they come into the community." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "But we are failing to do so: the efforts to attract new users into our " "community are far outstripping the efforts to teach them the civics of our " "community. We need to do both, and we need to keep the two efforts in " "balance." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "“Open Source”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Teaching new users about freedom became more difficult in 1998, when a part " "of the community decided to stop using the term “free software” " "and say “open source software” instead." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Some who favored this term aimed to avoid the confusion of " "“free” with “gratis”—a valid goal. Others, " "however, aimed to set aside the spirit of principle that had motivated the " "free software movement and the GNU Project, and to appeal instead to " "executives and business users, many of whom hold an ideology that places " "profit above freedom, above community, above principle. Thus, the rhetoric " "of “open source” focuses on the potential to make high-quality, " "powerful software, but shuns the ideas of freedom, community, and principle." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The “Linux” magazines are a clear example of this—they are " "filled with advertisements for proprietary software that works with " "GNU/Linux. When the next Motif or Qt appears, will these magazines warn " "programmers to stay away from it, or will they run ads for it?" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "The support of business can contribute to the community in many ways; all " "else being equal, it is useful. But winning their support by speaking even " "less about freedom and principle can be disastrous; it makes the previous " "imbalance between outreach and civics education even worse." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "“Free software” and “open source” describe the same " "category of software, more or less, but say different things about the " "software, and about values. The GNU Project continues to use the term " "“free software,” to express the idea that freedom, not just " "technology, is important." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Try!" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Yoda's aphorism (“There is no ‘try’”) sounds neat, " "but it doesn't work for me. I have done most of my work while anxious about " "whether I could do the job, and unsure that it would be enough to achieve " "the goal if I did. But I tried anyway, because there was no one but me " "between the enemy and my city. Surprising myself, I have sometimes " "succeeded." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Sometimes I failed; some of my cities have fallen. Then I found another " "threatened city, and got ready for another battle. Over time, I've learned " "to look for threats and put myself between them and my city, calling on " "other hackers to come and join me." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Nowadays, often I'm not the only one. It is a relief and a joy when I see a " "regiment of hackers digging in to hold the line, and I realize, this city " "may survive—for now. But the dangers are greater each year, and now " "Microsoft has explicitly targeted our community. We can't take the future " "of freedom for granted. Don't take it for granted! If you want to keep your " "freedom, you must be prepared to defend it." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><h3> msgid "Footnotes" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "The use of “hacker” to mean “security breaker” is a " "confusion on the part of the mass media. We hackers refuse to recognize " "that meaning, and continue using the word to mean someone who loves to " "program, someone who enjoys playful cleverness, or the combination of the " "two. See my article, “<a " "href=\"https://stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html\">On " "Hacking</a>.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "PDP machines were especially conducive to hacking, because they were <a " "href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/06/reinventing-the-pdp-10\"> " "multipurpose, fully interactive</a> in contrast with large mainframes, and " "allowed sharing of software and information." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "As an Atheist, I don't follow any religious leaders, but I sometimes find I " "admire something one of them has said." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "In 1984 or 1985, Don Hopkins (a very imaginative fellow) mailed me a " "letter. <a href=\"/graphics/copyleft-sticker.html\">On the envelope</a> he " "had written several amusing sayings, including this one: " "“Copyleft—all rights reversed.” I used the word " "“copyleft” to name the distribution concept I was developing at " "the time." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "We now use the <a href=\"/licenses/fdl.html\">GNU Free Documentation " "License</a> for documentation." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "“Bourne Again Shell” is a play on the name “Bourne " "Shell,” which was the usual shell on Unix." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "That was written in 1998. In 2009 we no longer maintain a long task list. " "The community develops free software so fast that we can't even keep track " "of it all. Instead, we have a list of High Priority Projects, a much " "shorter list of projects we really want to encourage people to write." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "This license was initially called the GNU Library General Public License, we " "renamed it to avoid giving the idea that all libraries ought to use it. See " "<a href=\"/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html\">Why you shouldn't use the Lesser " "GPL for your next library</a> for more information." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "2008 note: this issue extends to the BIOS as well. There is a free BIOS, <a " "href=\"https://libreboot.org/\">LibreBoot</a> (a distribution of coreboot); " "the problem is getting specs for machines so that LibreBoot can support them " "without nonfree “blobs.”" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "" "In September 2000, Qt was rereleased under the GNU GPL, which essentially " "solved this problem." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "As of 2009, the GIF patents have expired." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><ol><li> msgid "As of 2017, the MP3 patents have expired. Look how long we had to wait." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Originally published in the book <cite>Open Sources</cite>. Richard " "Stallman was <a href=\"/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html\"> " "never a supporter of “open source”</a>, but contributed this " "article so that the ideas of the free software movement would not be " "entirely absent from that book." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't have notes. #. type: Content of: <div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S NOTES*" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a " "href=\"mailto:gnu@gnu.org\"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a " "href=\"/contact/\">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and " "other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a " "href=\"mailto:webmasters@gnu.org\"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, #. replace it with the translation of these two: # #. We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality #. translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. #. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard #. to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> # #. <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> # #. <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of #. our web pages, see <a #. href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations #. README</a>. #. type: Content of: <div><div><p> msgid "" "Please see the <a " "href=\"/server/standards/README.translations.html\">Translations README</a> " "for information on coordinating and contributing translations of this " "article." msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "Copyright © 1998, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023, " "2024, 2025 Richard Stallman" msgstr "" #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "" "This page is licensed under a <a rel=\"license\" " "href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons " "Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>." msgstr "" #. TRANSLATORS: Use space (SPC) as msgstr if you don't want credits. #. type: Content of: <div><div> msgid "*GNUN-SLOT: TRANSLATOR'S CREDITS*" msgstr "" #. timestamp start #. type: Content of: <div><p> msgid "Updated:" msgstr ""