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1 Linux and the GNU system
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
144 Copyright 1996, 2002 Richard Stallman
145 Verbatim copying and redistribution is permitted
146 without royalty as long as this notice is preserved.