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Copyright (C) 1985, 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
2
 
3
   Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
4
of this document, in any medium, provided that the copyright notice and
5
permission notice are preserved, and that the distributor grants the
6
recipient permission for further redistribution as permitted by this
7
notice.
8
 
9
   Modified versions may not be made.
10
 
11
The GNU Manifesto
12
*****************
13
 
14
     The GNU Manifesto which appears below was written by Richard
15
     Stallman at the beginning of the GNU project, to ask for
16
     participation and support.  For the first few years, it was
17
     updated in minor ways to account for developments, but now it
18
     seems best to leave it unchanged as most people have seen it.
19
 
20
     Since that time, we have learned about certain common
21
     misunderstandings that different wording could help avoid.
22
     Footnotes added in 1993 help clarify these points.
23
 
24
     For up-to-date information about the available GNU software,
25
     please see the latest issue of the GNU's Bulletin.  The list is
26
     much too long to include here.
27
 
28
What's GNU?  Gnu's Not Unix!
29
============================
30
 
31
   GNU, which stands for Gnu's Not Unix, is the name for the complete
32
Unix-compatible software system which I am writing so that I can give it
33
away free to everyone who can use it.(1) Several other volunteers are
34
helping me.  Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are
35
greatly needed.
36
 
37
   So far we have an Emacs text editor with Lisp for writing editor
38
commands, a source level debugger, a yacc-compatible parser generator,
39
a linker, and around 35 utilities.  A shell (command interpreter) is
40
nearly completed.  A new portable optimizing C compiler has compiled
41
itself and may be released this year.  An initial kernel exists but
42
many more features are needed to emulate Unix.  When the kernel and
43
compiler are finished, it will be possible to distribute a GNU system
44
suitable for program development.  We will use TeX as our text
45
formatter, but an nroff is being worked on.  We will use the free,
46
portable X window system as well.  After this we will add a portable
47
Common Lisp, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other
48
things, plus on-line documentation.  We hope to supply, eventually,
49
everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and more.
50
 
51
   GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to
52
Unix.  We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our
53
experience with other operating systems.  In particular, we plan to
54
have longer file names, file version numbers, a crashproof file system,
55
file name completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and
56
perhaps eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several
57
Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen.  Both C
58
and Lisp will be available as system programming languages.  We will
59
try to support UUCP, MIT Chaosnet, and Internet protocols for
60
communication.
61
 
62
   GNU is aimed initially at machines in the 68000/16000 class with
63
virtual memory, because they are the easiest machines to make it run
64
on.  The extra effort to make it run on smaller machines will be left
65
to someone who wants to use it on them.
66
 
67
   To avoid horrible confusion, please pronounce the `G' in the word
68
`GNU' when it is the name of this project.
69
 
70
Why I Must Write GNU
71
====================
72
 
73
   I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I
74
must share it with other people who like it.  Software sellers want to
75
divide the users and conquer them, making each user agree not to share
76
with others.  I refuse to break solidarity with other users in this
77
way.  I cannot in good conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a
78
software license agreement.  For years I worked within the Artificial
79
Intelligence Lab to resist such tendencies and other inhospitalities,
80
but eventually they had gone too far: I could not remain in an
81
institution where such things are done for me against my will.
82
 
83
   So that I can continue to use computers without dishonor, I have
84
decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I
85
will be able to get along without any software that is not free.  I
86
have resigned from the AI lab to deny MIT any legal excuse to prevent
87
me from giving GNU away.
88
 
89
Why GNU Will Be Compatible with Unix
90
====================================
91
 
92
   Unix is not my ideal system, but it is not too bad.  The essential
93
features of Unix seem to be good ones, and I think I can fill in what
94
Unix lacks without spoiling them.  And a system compatible with Unix
95
would be convenient for many other people to adopt.
96
 
97
How GNU Will Be Available
98
=========================
99
 
100
   GNU is not in the public domain.  Everyone will be permitted to
101
modify and redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to
102
restrict its further redistribution.  That is to say, proprietary
103
modifications will not be allowed.  I want to make sure that all
104
versions of GNU remain free.
105
 
106
Why Many Other Programmers Want to Help
107
=======================================
108
 
109
   I have found many other programmers who are excited about GNU and
110
want to help.
111
 
112
   Many programmers are unhappy about the commercialization of system
113
software.  It may enable them to make more money, but it requires them
114
to feel in conflict with other programmers in general rather than feel
115
as comrades.  The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the
116
sharing of programs; marketing arrangements now typically used
117
essentially forbid programmers to treat others as friends.  The
118
purchaser of software must choose between friendship and obeying the
119
law.  Naturally, many decide that friendship is more important.  But
120
those who believe in law often do not feel at ease with either choice.
121
They become cynical and think that programming is just a way of making
122
money.
123
 
124
   By working on and using GNU rather than proprietary programs, we can
125
be hospitable to everyone and obey the law.  In addition, GNU serves as
126
an example to inspire and a banner to rally others to join us in
127
sharing.  This can give us a feeling of harmony which is impossible if
128
we use software that is not free.  For about half the programmers I
129
talk to, this is an important happiness that money cannot replace.
130
 
131
How You Can Contribute
132
======================
133
 
134
   I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and
135
money.  I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work.
136
 
137
   One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is that GNU
138
will run on them at an early date.  The machines should be complete,
139
ready to use systems, approved for use in a residential area, and not
140
in need of sophisticated cooling or power.
141
 
142
   I have found very many programmers eager to contribute part-time
143
work for GNU.  For most projects, such part-time distributed work would
144
be very hard to coordinate; the independently-written parts would not
145
work together.  But for the particular task of replacing Unix, this
146
problem is absent.  A complete Unix system contains hundreds of utility
147
programs, each of which is documented separately.  Most interface
148
specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility.  If each contributor
149
can write a compatible replacement for a single Unix utility, and make
150
it work properly in place of the original on a Unix system, then these
151
utilities will work right when put together.  Even allowing for Murphy
152
to create a few unexpected problems, assembling these components will
153
be a feasible task.  (The kernel will require closer communication and
154
will be worked on by a small, tight group.)
155
 
156
   If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full
157
or part time.  The salary won't be high by programmers' standards, but
158
I'm looking for people for whom building community spirit is as
159
important as making money.  I view this as a way of enabling dedicated
160
people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by sparing them
161
the need to make a living in another way.
162
 
163
Why All Computer Users Will Benefit
164
===================================
165
 
166
   Once GNU is written, everyone will be able to obtain good system
167
software free, just like air.(2)
168
 
169
   This means much more than just saving everyone the price of a Unix
170
license.  It means that much wasteful duplication of system programming
171
effort will be avoided.  This effort can go instead into advancing the
172
state of the art.
173
 
174
   Complete system sources will be available to everyone.  As a result,
175
a user who needs changes in the system will always be free to make them
176
himself, or hire any available programmer or company to make them for
177
him.  Users will no longer be at the mercy of one programmer or company
178
which owns the sources and is in sole position to make changes.
179
 
180
   Schools will be able to provide a much more educational environment
181
by encouraging all students to study and improve the system code.
182
Harvard's computer lab used to have the policy that no program could be
183
installed on the system if its sources were not on public display, and
184
upheld it by actually refusing to install certain programs.  I was very
185
much inspired by this.
186
 
187
   Finally, the overhead of considering who owns the system software
188
and what one is or is not entitled to do with it will be lifted.
189
 
190
   Arrangements to make people pay for using a program, including
191
licensing of copies, always incur a tremendous cost to society through
192
the cumbersome mechanisms necessary to figure out how much (that is,
193
which programs) a person must pay for.  And only a police state can
194
force everyone to obey them.  Consider a space station where air must
195
be manufactured at great cost: charging each breather per liter of air
196
may be fair, but wearing the metered gas mask all day and all night is
197
intolerable even if everyone can afford to pay the air bill.  And the
198
TV cameras everywhere to see if you ever take the mask off are
199
outrageous.  It's better to support the air plant with a head tax and
200
chuck the masks.
201
 
202
   Copying all or parts of a program is as natural to a programmer as
203
breathing, and as productive.  It ought to be as free.
204
 
205
Some Easily Rebutted Objections to GNU's Goals
206
==============================================
207
 
208
     "Nobody will use it if it is free, because that means they can't
209
     rely on any support."
210
 
211
     "You have to charge for the program to pay for providing the
212
     support."
213
 
214
   If people would rather pay for GNU plus service than get GNU free
215
without service, a company to provide just service to people who have
216
obtained GNU free ought to be profitable.(3)
217
 
218
   We must distinguish between support in the form of real programming
219
work and mere handholding.  The former is something one cannot rely on
220
from a software vendor.  If your problem is not shared by enough
221
people, the vendor will tell you to get lost.
222
 
223
   If your business needs to be able to rely on support, the only way
224
is to have all the necessary sources and tools.  Then you can hire any
225
available person to fix your problem; you are not at the mercy of any
226
individual.  With Unix, the price of sources puts this out of
227
consideration for most businesses.  With GNU this will be easy.  It is
228
still possible for there to be no available competent person, but this
229
problem cannot be blamed on distribution arrangements.  GNU does not
230
eliminate all the world's problems, only some of them.
231
 
232
   Meanwhile, the users who know nothing about computers need
233
handholding: doing things for them which they could easily do
234
themselves but don't know how.
235
 
236
   Such services could be provided by companies that sell just
237
hand-holding and repair service.  If it is true that users would rather
238
spend money and get a product with service, they will also be willing
239
to buy the service having got the product free.  The service companies
240
will compete in quality and price; users will not be tied to any
241
particular one.  Meanwhile, those of us who don't need the service
242
should be able to use the program without paying for the service.
243
 
244
     "You cannot reach many people without advertising, and you must
245
     charge for the program to support that."
246
 
247
     "It's no use advertising a program people can get free."
248
 
249
   There are various forms of free or very cheap publicity that can be
250
used to inform numbers of computer users about something like GNU.  But
251
it may be true that one can reach more microcomputer users with
252
advertising.  If this is really so, a business which advertises the
253
service of copying and mailing GNU for a fee ought to be successful
254
enough to pay for its advertising and more.  This way, only the users
255
who benefit from the advertising pay for it.
256
 
257
   On the other hand, if many people get GNU from their friends, and
258
such companies don't succeed, this will show that advertising was not
259
really necessary to spread GNU.  Why is it that free market advocates
260
don't want to let the free market decide this?(4)
261
 
262
     "My company needs a proprietary operating system to get a
263
     competitive edge."
264
 
265
   GNU will remove operating system software from the realm of
266
competition.  You will not be able to get an edge in this area, but
267
neither will your competitors be able to get an edge over you.  You and
268
they will compete in other areas, while benefiting mutually in this
269
one.  If your business is selling an operating system, you will not
270
like GNU, but that's tough on you.  If your business is something else,
271
GNU can save you from being pushed into the expensive business of
272
selling operating systems.
273
 
274
   I would like to see GNU development supported by gifts from many
275
manufacturers and users, reducing the cost to each.(5)
276
 
277
     "Don't programmers deserve a reward for their creativity?"
278
 
279
   If anything deserves a reward, it is social contribution.
280
Creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so far as society
281
is free to use the results.  If programmers deserve to be rewarded for
282
creating innovative programs, by the same token they deserve to be
283
punished if they restrict the use of these programs.
284
 
285
     "Shouldn't a programmer be able to ask for a reward for his
286
     creativity?"
287
 
288
   There is nothing wrong with wanting pay for work, or seeking to
289
maximize one's income, as long as one does not use means that are
290
destructive.  But the means customary in the field of software today
291
are based on destruction.
292
 
293
   Extracting money from users of a program by restricting their use of
294
it is destructive because the restrictions reduce the amount and the
295
ways that the program can be used.  This reduces the amount of wealth
296
that humanity derives from the program.  When there is a deliberate
297
choice to restrict, the harmful consequences are deliberate destruction.
298
 
299
   The reason a good citizen does not use such destructive means to
300
become wealthier is that, if everyone did so, we would all become
301
poorer from the mutual destructiveness.  This is Kantian ethics; or,
302
the Golden Rule.  Since I do not like the consequences that result if
303
everyone hoards information, I am required to consider it wrong for one
304
to do so.  Specifically, the desire to be rewarded for one's creativity
305
does not justify depriving the world in general of all or part of that
306
creativity.
307
 
308
     "Won't programmers starve?"
309
 
310
   I could answer that nobody is forced to be a programmer.  Most of us
311
cannot manage to get any money for standing on the street and making
312
faces.  But we are not, as a result, condemned to spend our lives
313
standing on the street making faces, and starving.  We do something
314
else.
315
 
316
   But that is the wrong answer because it accepts the questioner's
317
implicit assumption: that without ownership of software, programmers
318
cannot possibly be paid a cent.  Supposedly it is all or nothing.
319
 
320
   The real reason programmers will not starve is that it will still be
321
possible for them to get paid for programming; just not paid as much as
322
now.
323
 
324
   Restricting copying is not the only basis for business in software.
325
It is the most common basis because it brings in the most money.  If it
326
were prohibited, or rejected by the customer, software business would
327
move to other bases of organization which are now used less often.
328
There are always numerous ways to organize any kind of business.
329
 
330
   Probably programming will not be as lucrative on the new basis as it
331
is now.  But that is not an argument against the change.  It is not
332
considered an injustice that sales clerks make the salaries that they
333
now do.  If programmers made the same, that would not be an injustice
334
either.  (In practice they would still make considerably more than
335
that.)
336
 
337
     "Don't people have a right to control how their creativity is
338
     used?"
339
 
340
   "Control over the use of one's ideas" really constitutes control over
341
other people's lives; and it is usually used to make their lives more
342
difficult.
343
 
344
   People who have studied the issue of intellectual property rights
345
carefully (such as lawyers) say that there is no intrinsic right to
346
intellectual property.  The kinds of supposed intellectual property
347
rights that the government recognizes were created by specific acts of
348
legislation for specific purposes.
349
 
350
   For example, the patent system was established to encourage
351
inventors to disclose the details of their inventions.  Its purpose was
352
to help society rather than to help inventors.  At the time, the life
353
span of 17 years for a patent was short compared with the rate of
354
advance of the state of the art.  Since patents are an issue only among
355
manufacturers, for whom the cost and effort of a license agreement are
356
small compared with setting up production, the patents often do not do
357
much harm.  They do not obstruct most individuals who use patented
358
products.
359
 
360
   The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors
361
frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction.  This
362
practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have
363
survived even in part.  The copyright system was created expressly for
364
the purpose of encouraging authorship.  In the domain for which it was
365
invented--books, which could be copied economically only on a printing
366
press--it did little harm, and did not obstruct most of the individuals
367
who read the books.
368
 
369
   All intellectual property rights are just licenses granted by society
370
because it was thought, rightly or wrongly, that society as a whole
371
would benefit by granting them.  But in any particular situation, we
372
have to ask: are we really better off granting such license?  What kind
373
of act are we licensing a person to do?
374
 
375
   The case of programs today is very different from that of books a
376
hundred years ago.  The fact that the easiest way to copy a program is
377
from one neighbor to another, the fact that a program has both source
378
code and object code which are distinct, and the fact that a program is
379
used rather than read and enjoyed, combine to create a situation in
380
which a person who enforces a copyright is harming society as a whole
381
both materially and spiritually; in which a person should not do so
382
regardless of whether the law enables him to.
383
 
384
     "Competition makes things get done better."
385
 
386
   The paradigm of competition is a race: by rewarding the winner, we
387
encourage everyone to run faster.  When capitalism really works this
388
way, it does a good job; but its defenders are wrong in assuming it
389
always works this way.  If the runners forget why the reward is offered
390
and become intent on winning, no matter how, they may find other
391
strategies--such as, attacking other runners.  If the runners get into
392
a fist fight, they will all finish late.
393
 
394
   Proprietary and secret software is the moral equivalent of runners
395
in a fist fight.  Sad to say, the only referee we've got does not seem
396
to object to fights; he just regulates them ("For every ten yards you
397
run, you can fire one shot").  He really ought to break them up, and
398
penalize runners for even trying to fight.
399
 
400
     "Won't everyone stop programming without a monetary incentive?"
401
 
402
   Actually, many people will program with absolutely no monetary
403
incentive.  Programming has an irresistible fascination for some
404
people, usually the people who are best at it.  There is no shortage of
405
professional musicians who keep at it even though they have no hope of
406
making a living that way.
407
 
408
   But really this question, though commonly asked, is not appropriate
409
to the situation.  Pay for programmers will not disappear, only become
410
less.  So the right question is, will anyone program with a reduced
411
monetary incentive?  My experience shows that they will.
412
 
413
   For more than ten years, many of the world's best programmers worked
414
at the Artificial Intelligence Lab for far less money than they could
415
have had anywhere else.  They got many kinds of non-monetary rewards:
416
fame and appreciation, for example.  And creativity is also fun, a
417
reward in itself.
418
 
419
   Then most of them left when offered a chance to do the same
420
interesting work for a lot of money.
421
 
422
   What the facts show is that people will program for reasons other
423
than riches; but if given a chance to make a lot of money as well, they
424
will come to expect and demand it.  Low-paying organizations do poorly
425
in competition with high-paying ones, but they do not have to do badly
426
if the high-paying ones are banned.
427
 
428
     "We need the programmers desperately.  If they demand that we stop
429
     helping our neighbors, we have to obey."
430
 
431
   You're never so desperate that you have to obey this sort of demand.
432
Remember: millions for defense, but not a cent for tribute!
433
 
434
     "Programmers need to make a living somehow."
435
 
436
   In the short run, this is true.  However, there are plenty of ways
437
that programmers could make a living without selling the right to use a
438
program.  This way is customary now because it brings programmers and
439
businessmen the most money, not because it is the only way to make a
440
living.  It is easy to find other ways if you want to find them.  Here
441
are a number of examples.
442
 
443
   A manufacturer introducing a new computer will pay for the porting of
444
operating systems onto the new hardware.
445
 
446
   The sale of teaching, hand-holding and maintenance services could
447
also employ programmers.
448
 
449
   People with new ideas could distribute programs as freeware, asking
450
for donations from satisfied users, or selling hand-holding services.
451
I have met people who are already working this way successfully.
452
 
453
   Users with related needs can form users' groups, and pay dues.  A
454
group would contract with programming companies to write programs that
455
the group's members would like to use.
456
 
457
   All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax:
458
 
459
     Suppose everyone who buys a computer has to pay x percent of the
460
     price as a software tax.  The government gives this to an agency
461
     like the NSF to spend on software development.
462
 
463
     But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software development
464
     himself, he can take a credit against the tax.  He can donate to
465
     the project of his own choosing--often, chosen because he hopes to
466
     use the results when it is done.  He can take a credit for any
467
     amount of donation up to the total tax he had to pay.
468
 
469
     The total tax rate could be decided by a vote of the payers of the
470
     tax, weighted according to the amount they will be taxed on.
471
 
472
     The consequences:
473
 
474
        * The computer-using community supports software development.
475
 
476
        * This community decides what level of support is needed.
477
 
478
        * Users who care which projects their share is spent on can
479
          choose this for themselves.
480
 
481
   In the long run, making programs free is a step toward the
482
post-scarcity world, where nobody will have to work very hard just to
483
make a living.  People will be free to devote themselves to activities
484
that are fun, such as programming, after spending the necessary ten
485
hours a week on required tasks such as legislation, family counseling,
486
robot repair and asteroid prospecting.  There will be no need to be
487
able to make a living from programming.
488
 
489
   We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole
490
society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this
491
has translated itself into leisure for workers because much
492
nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity.
493
The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against
494
competition.  Free software will greatly reduce these drains in the
495
area of software production.  We must do this, in order for technical
496
gains in productivity to translate into less work for us.
497
 
498
   ---------- Footnotes ----------
499
 
500
   (1)  The wording here was careless.  The intention was that nobody
501
would have to pay for *permission* to use the GNU system.  But the
502
words don't make this clear, and people often interpret them as saying
503
that copies of GNU should always be distributed at little or no charge.
504
That was never the intent; later on, the manifesto mentions the
505
possibility of companies providing the service of distribution for a
506
profit.  Subsequently I have learned to distinguish carefully between
507
"free" in the sense of freedom and "free" in the sense of price.  Free
508
software is software that users have the freedom to distribute and
509
change.  Some users may obtain copies at no charge, while others pay to
510
obtain copies--and if the funds help support improving the software, so
511
much the better.  The important thing is that everyone who has a copy
512
has the freedom to cooperate with others in using it.
513
 
514
   (2)  This is another place I failed to distinguish carefully between
515
the two different meanings of "free".  The statement as it stands is
516
not false--you can get copies of GNU software at no charge, from your
517
friends or over the net.  But it does suggest the wrong idea.
518
 
519
   (3)  Several such companies now exist.
520
 
521
   (4)  The Free Software Foundation raises most of its funds from a
522
distribution service, although it is a charity rather than a company.
523
If *no one* chooses to obtain copies by ordering from the FSF, it
524
will be unable to do its work.  But this does not mean that proprietary
525
restrictions are justified to force every user to pay.  If a small
526
fraction of all the users order copies from the FSF, that is sufficient
527
to keep the FSF afloat.  So we ask users to choose to support us in
528
this way.  Have you done your part?
529
 
530
   (5)  A group of computer companies recently pooled funds to support
531
maintenance of the GNU C Compiler.
532