Overview of the GNU Project

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The GNU project has developed a complete free software system named ``GNU'' (GNU's Not Unix) that is upwardly compatible with Unix. (Richard Stallman's initial document on the GNU project is called the GNU Manifesto (31k characters), which has been translated into several other languages.

The word ``free'' above pertains to freedom, not price. You may or may not pay a price to get GNU software. Either way, once you have the software you have three specific freedoms in using it. First, the freedom to copy the program and give it away to your friends and co-workers; second, the freedom to change the program as you wish, by having full access to source code; third, the freedom to distribute an improved version and thus help build the community. (If you redistribute GNU software, you may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, or you may give away copies.)

The GNU project was conceived in 1983 as a way of bringing back the cooperative spirit that prevailed in the computing community in earlier days---to make cooperation possible once again by removing the obstacles to cooperation imposed by the owners of proprietary software.

In 1971, when Richard Stallman started his career at MIT, he worked in a group which used free software exclusively. Even computer companies often distributed free software. Programmers were free to cooperate with each other, and often did.

By the 1980s, almost all software was proprietary (18k characters), which means that it had owners who forbid and prevent cooperation by users. This made the GNU project necessary.

Every computer user needs an operating system; if there is no free operating system, then you can't even get started using a computer without resorting to proprietary software. So the first item on the free software agenda is a free operating system.

An operating system is not just a kernel; it also includes compilers, editors, text formatters, mail software, and many other things. Thus, writing a whole operating system is a very large job. It took many years.

We decided to make the operating system compatible with Unix because the overall design was already proven and portable, and because compatibility makes it easy for Unix users to switch from Unix to GNU.

The initial goal of a free Unix-like operating system has been achieved. By the 1990s, we had either found or written all the major components except one--the kernel. Then Linux, a free kernel, was developed by Linus Torvalds. Combining Linux with the almost-complete GNU system resulted in a complete operating system: a Linux-based GNU system. Estimates are that hundreds of thousands of people now use Linux-based GNU systems, including Slackware, Debian, Red Hat, and others.

However, the GNU project is not limited to operating systems. We aim to provide a whole spectrum of software, whatever many users want to have. This includes application software. We already have a spreadsheet. We hope to extend GNU Emacs into a WYSIWYG desktop publishing system over the coming years.

We also want to provide software for users who are not computer experts. Therefore we are now working on a drag-and-drop icon desktop to help beginners use the GNU system.

We also want to provide games and other recreations. Some free games are already available.

How far can free software go? There are no limits, except when laws such as the patent system prohibit free software entirely. The ultimate goal is to provide free software to do all of the jobs computer users want to do--and thus make proprietary software obsolete.

Overview of the GNU Project

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