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| author | Marcello Stanisci <marcello.stanisci@inria.fr> | 2016-02-23 17:12:18 +0100 |
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| committer | Marcello Stanisci <marcello.stanisci@inria.fr> | 2016-02-23 17:12:18 +0100 |
| commit | af03e45182f4f450621ce98a6bd23bfaf2671c59 (patch) | |
| tree | 73f657e45b51dc3dfca4de0dbef08ab9d23f21e9 /src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_8.html | |
| parent | f8c673dd6ae62fe61ea0c6522c882b1ceb7b6e61 (diff) | |
| download | merchant-af03e45182f4f450621ce98a6bd23bfaf2671c59.tar.gz merchant-af03e45182f4f450621ce98a6bd23bfaf2671c59.tar.bz2 merchant-af03e45182f4f450621ce98a6bd23bfaf2671c59.zip | |
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diff --git a/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_8.html b/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_8.html deleted file mode 100644 index 0a8e77aa..00000000 --- a/src/frontend_blog/articles/scrap1_8.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,202 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/loose.dtd"> -<html> -<!-- This is the second edition of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. - -Free Software Foundation - -51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor - -Boston, MA 02110-1335 -Copyright C 2002, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc. -Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire book are permitted -worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is -preserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations -of this book from the original English into another language provided -the translation has been approved by the Free Software Foundation and -the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all -copies. - -ISBN 978-0-9831592-0-9 -Cover design by Rob Myers. - -Cover photograph by Peter Hinely. - --> -<!-- Created on February 18, 2016 by texi2html 1.82 -texi2html was written by: - Lionel Cons <Lionel.Cons@cern.ch> (original author) - Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org> - Olaf Bachmann <obachman@mathematik.uni-kl.de> - and many others. -Maintained by: Many creative people. -Send bugs and suggestions to <texi2html-bug@nongnu.org> ---> -<head> -<title>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 8. Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University</title> - -<meta name="description" content="This is the second edition of Richard Stallman's collection of essays."> -<meta name="keywords" content="Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.: 8. Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University"> -<meta name="resource-type" content="document"> -<meta name="distribution" content="global"> -<meta name="Generator" content="texi2html 1.82"> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> -<style type="text/css"> -<!-- -a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} -blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} -pre.display {font-family: serif} -pre.format {font-family: serif} -pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} -pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} -pre.smalldisplay {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} -pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} -pre.smallformat {font-family: serif; font-size: smaller} -pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} -span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal;} -span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal;} -ul.toc {list-style: none} ---> -</style> -<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../style.css"> - - -</head> - -<body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> - -<a name="University"></a> -<header><div id="logo"><img src="../gnu.svg" height="100" width="100"></div><h1>Free Software, Free Society, 2nd ed.</h1></header><section id="main"><a name="Releasing-Free-Software-If-You-Work-at-a-University"></a> -<h1 class="chapter"> 8. Releasing Free Software If You Work at a University </h1> - -<a name="index-universities_002c-releasing-free-software-at-1"></a> -<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-release-free-software"></a> -<a name="index-developers_002c-universities"></a> -<p>In the free software movement, we believe computer users should have -the freedom to change and redistribute the software that they use. -The “free” in “free software” refers to freedom: it means -users have the freedom to run, modify and redistribute the software. -Free software contributes to human knowledge, while nonfree software -does not. Universities should therefore encourage free software for -the sake of advancing human knowledge, just as they should encourage -scientists and other scholars to publish their work. -</p> -<p>Alas, many university administrators have a grasping attitude towards -software (and towards science); they see programs as opportunities for -income, not as opportunities to contribute to human knowledge. Free -software developers have been coping with this tendency for almost 20 -years. -</p> -<p>When I started developing the -<a name="index-GNU-_0028see-also-both-software-and-GNU_0029-2"></a> -GNU operating system, in 1984, my first step was to quit my job at -<a name="index-MIT-4"></a> -MIT. -I did this specifically so that the MIT licensing office would be -unable to interfere with releasing GNU as free software. I had -planned an approach for licensing the programs in GNU that would ensure -that all modified versions must be free software as well—an approach -that developed into the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL)—and I did not want to have to beg the MIT administration to let me use it. -</p> -<p>Over the years, university affiliates have often come to the -<a name="index-FSF_002c-universities"></a> -Free -Software Foundation for advice on how to cope with administrators who -see software only as something to sell. One good method, applicable -even for specifically funded projects, is to base your work on an -existing program that was released under the -<a name="index-GPL_002c-universities-and"></a> -GNU GPL. Then you can -tell the administrators, “We’re not allowed to release the -modified version except under the GNU GPL—any other way would -be copyright infringement.” After the dollar signs fade from -their eyes, they will usually consent to releasing it as free -software. -</p> -<p>You can also ask your funding sponsor for help. When a group at -<a name="index-NYU"></a> -NYU -developed the -<a name="index-Ada-compiler_002c-GNU"></a> -<a name="index-GNU_002c-GNU-Ada-compiler"></a> -GNU Ada Compiler, with funding from the -<a name="index-Air-Force_002c-US-1"></a> -US Air Force, -the contract explicitly called for donating the resulting code to the -Free Software Foundation. Work out the arrangement with the sponsor -first, then politely show the university administration that it is not -open to renegotiation. They would rather have a contract to develop -free software than no contract at all, so they will most likely go -along. -</p> -<p>Whatever you do, raise the issue early—well before the -program is half finished. At this point, the university still needs -you, so you can play hardball: tell the administration you will finish -the program, make it usable, if they agree in writing to make it -free software (and agree to your choice of free software license). -Otherwise you will work on it only enough to write a paper about it, -and never make a version good enough to release. When the -administrators know their choice is to have a free software package -that brings credit to the university or nothing at all, they will -usually choose the former. -</p> -<p>Not all universities have grasping policies. The -<a name="index-University-of-Texas"></a> -University of Texas -has a policy that makes it easy to release software developed there as -free software under the GNU General Public License. -<a name="index-Univates"></a> -Univates, in -<a name="index-Brazil"></a> -Brazil, and the -<a name="index-International-Institute-of-Information-Technology"></a> -International Institute of Information Technology in -Hyderabad, -<a name="index-India"></a> -India, both have policies in favor of releasing software -under the GPL. By developing faculty support first, you may be able -to institute such a policy at your university. Present the issue as -one of principle: does the university have a mission to advance human -knowledge, or is its sole purpose to perpetuate itself? -<a name="index-GPL_002c-universities-and-1"></a> -</p> -<p>Whatever approach you use, it helps to approach the issue with determination -and based on an -ethical perspective, as we do in the free software movement. To treat -the public ethically, the software should be free—as in -freedom—for the whole public. -</p> -<a name="index-developers_002c-solid-values-for-free-software"></a> -<p>Many developers of free software profess narrowly practical reasons -for doing so: they advocate allowing others to share and change -software as an expedient for making software powerful and reliable. -If those values motivate you to develop free software, well and good, -and thank you for your contribution. But those values do not give you -a good footing to stand firm when university administrators pressure -or tempt you to make the program nonfree. -</p> -<p>For instance, they may argue that “We could make it even more -powerful and reliable with all the money we can get.” This claim -may or may not come true in the end, but it is hard to disprove in -advance. They may suggest a license to offer copies “free of -charge, for academic use only,” which would tell the general -public they don’t deserve freedom, and argue that this will obtain the -cooperation of academia, which is all (they say) you need. -</p> -<a name="index-citizen-values_002c-convenience-v_002e-2"></a> -<p>If you start from values of convenience alone, it is hard to make a -good case for rejecting these dead-end proposals, but you can do it -easily if you base your stand on ethical and political values. What -good is it to make a program powerful and reliable at the expense of -users’ freedom? Shouldn’t freedom apply outside academia as well as -within it? The answers are obvious if freedom and community are among -your goals. Free software respects the users’ freedom, while nonfree -software negates it. -</p> -<p>Nothing strengthens your resolve like knowing that the community’s -freedom depends, in one instance, on you. -<a name="index-universities_002c-releasing-free-software-at-2"></a> -<a name="index-education_002c-free-software-in-2"></a> -<a name="index-call-to-action_002c-release-free-software-1"></a> -<a name="index-developers_002c-universities-1"></a> -</p><hr size="2"> -</body> -</html> |