initial-announcement.html (13738B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="gnu-history" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Initial Announcement - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 7 <style type="text/css" media="print,screen"><!-- 8 a.ftn { font-size: .94em; } 9 pre.emph-box { font-size: .94em; background: none; margin-bottom: 2.5em; } 10 --></style> 11 <!--#include virtual="/gnu/po/initial-announcement.translist" --> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 13 <!--#include virtual="/gnu/gnu-breadcrumb.html" --> 14 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 15 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 16 <div class="article reduced-width"> 17 <h2>Initial Announcement</h2> 18 <div class="thin"></div> 19 20 <div class="introduction"> 21 <p> This is the original announcement of the GNU Project, posted by 22 <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a> on September 23 27, 1983.</p> 24 25 <p> The actual history of the GNU Project differs in many ways from 26 this initial plan. For example, the beginning was delayed until 27 January 1984. Several of the philosophical concepts 28 of <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a> were not 29 clarified until a few years later.</p> 30 </div> 31 <hr class="no-display" /> 32 33 <h3>Free Unix!</h3> 34 35 <p>Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete 36 Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix), and 37 give it away free <a class="ftn" href="#f1">[1]</a> to everyone who can use it. 38 Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly 39 needed.</p> 40 41 <p>To begin with, GNU will be a kernel plus all the utilities needed 42 to write and run C programs: editor, shell, C compiler, linker, 43 assembler, and a few other things. After this we will add a text 44 formatter, a YACC, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of 45 other things. We hope to supply, eventually, everything useful that 46 normally comes with a Unix system, and anything else useful, including 47 on-line and hardcopy documentation.</p> 48 49 <p>GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to 50 Unix. We will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our 51 experience with other operating systems. In particular, we plan to 52 have longer filenames, file version numbers, a crashproof file system, 53 filename completion perhaps, terminal-independent display support, and 54 eventually a Lisp-based window system through which several Lisp 55 programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. Both C and 56 Lisp will be available as system programming languages. We will have 57 network software based on MIT's chaosnet protocol, far superior to 58 UUCP. We may also have something compatible with UUCP.</p> 59 60 61 <h3>Who Am I?</h3> 62 63 <p>I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original much-imitated EMACS 64 editor, now at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. I have worked 65 extensively on compilers, editors, debuggers, command interpreters, 66 the Incompatible Timesharing System and the Lisp Machine operating 67 system. I pioneered terminal-independent display support in ITS. In 68 addition I have implemented one crashproof file system and two window 69 systems for Lisp machines.</p> 70 71 <h3>Why I Must Write GNU</h3> 72 73 <p>I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I 74 must share it with other people who like it. I cannot in good 75 conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software license 76 agreement.</p> 77 78 <p>So that I can continue to use computers without violating my 79 principles, I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free 80 software so that I will be able to get along without any software that 81 is not free.</p> 82 83 84 <h3>How You Can Contribute</h3> 85 86 <p>I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and 87 money. I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work.</p> 88 89 <p>One computer manufacturer has already offered to provide a machine. But 90 we could use more. One consequence you can expect if you donate 91 machines is that GNU will run on them at an early date. The machine had 92 better be able to operate in a residential area, and not require 93 sophisticated cooling or power.</p> 94 95 <p>Individual programmers can contribute by writing a compatible duplicate 96 of some Unix utility and giving it to me. For most projects, such 97 part-time distributed work would be very hard to coordinate; the 98 independently-written parts would not work together. But for the 99 particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is absent. Most 100 interface specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility. If each 101 contribution works with the rest of Unix, it will probably work 102 with the rest of GNU.</p> 103 104 <p>If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or 105 part time. The salary won't be high, but I'm looking for people for 106 whom knowing they are helping humanity is as important as money. I view 107 this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote their full energies to 108 working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a living in another way.</p> 109 110 111 <p>For more information, contact me.</p> 112 113 <address>Arpanet mail:<br /> 114 RMS@MIT-MC.ARPA</address> 115 116 <address>Usenet:<br /> 117 ...!mit-eddie!RMS@OZ<br /> 118 ...!mit-vax!RMS@OZ</address> 119 120 <address>US Snail:<br /> 121 Richard Stallman<br /> 122 166 Prospect St<br /> 123 Cambridge, MA 02139</address> 124 <hr class="column-limit" /> 125 126 <div class="infobox extra" role="complementary"> 127 <h3>Original message</h3> 128 129 <p>For completeness, the original email is reproduced here, in its 130 original form.</p> 131 132 <pre class="emph-box" dir="ltr"> 133 <!--TRANSLATORS: Don't translate anything except the headers. 134 -->From CSvax:pur-ee:inuxc!ixn5c!ihnp4!houxm!mhuxi!eagle!mit-vax!mit-eddie!RMS@MIT-OZ 135 From: RMS%MIT-OZ@mit-eddie 136 Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards,net.usoft 137 Subject: new Unix implementation 138 Date: Tue, 27-Sep-83 12:35:59 EST 139 Organization: MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA 140 141 Free Unix! 142 143 Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete 144 Unix-compatible software system called GNU (for Gnu's Not Unix), and 145 give it away free <a href="#f1">[1]</a> to everyone who can use it. 146 Contributions of time, money, programs and equipment are greatly 147 needed. 148 149 To begin with, GNU will be a kernel plus all the utilities needed to 150 write and run C programs: editor, shell, C compiler, linker, 151 assembler, and a few other things. After this we will add a text 152 formatter, a YACC, an Empire game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of 153 other things. We hope to supply, eventually, everything useful that 154 normally comes with a Unix system, and anything else useful, including 155 on-line and hardcopy documentation. 156 157 GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical 158 to Unix. We will make all improvements that are convenient, based 159 on our experience with other operating systems. In particular, 160 we plan to have longer filenames, file version numbers, a crashproof 161 file system, filename completion perhaps, terminal-independent 162 display support, and eventually a Lisp-based window system through 163 which several Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can share a screen. 164 Both C and Lisp will be available as system programming languages. 165 We will have network software based on MIT's chaosnet protocol, 166 far superior to UUCP. We may also have something compatible 167 with UUCP. 168 169 170 Who Am I? 171 172 I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original much-imitated EMACS 173 editor, now at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. I have worked 174 extensively on compilers, editors, debuggers, command interpreters, the 175 Incompatible Timesharing System and the Lisp Machine operating system. 176 I pioneered terminal-independent display support in ITS. In addition I 177 have implemented one crashproof file system and two window systems for 178 Lisp machines. 179 180 181 Why I Must Write GNU 182 183 I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I 184 must share it with other people who like it. I cannot in good 185 conscience sign a nondisclosure agreement or a software license 186 agreement. 187 188 So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles, 189 I have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that 190 I will be able to get along without any software that is not free. 191 192 193 How You Can Contribute 194 195 I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money. 196 I'm asking individuals for donations of programs and work. 197 198 One computer manufacturer has already offered to provide a machine. But 199 we could use more. One consequence you can expect if you donate 200 machines is that GNU will run on them at an early date. The machine had 201 better be able to operate in a residential area, and not require 202 sophisticated cooling or power. 203 204 Individual programmers can contribute by writing a compatible duplicate 205 of some Unix utility and giving it to me. For most projects, such 206 part-time distributed work would be very hard to coordinate; the 207 independently-written parts would not work together. But for the 208 particular task of replacing Unix, this problem is absent. Most 209 interface specifications are fixed by Unix compatibility. If each 210 contribution works with the rest of Unix, it will probably work 211 with the rest of GNU. 212 213 If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or 214 part time. The salary won't be high, but I'm looking for people for 215 whom knowing they are helping humanity is as important as money. I view 216 this as a way of enabling dedicated people to devote their full energies to 217 working on GNU by sparing them the need to make a living in another way. 218 219 220 For more information, contact me. 221 Arpanet mail: 222 RMS@MIT-MC.ARPA 223 224 Usenet: 225 ...!mit-eddie!RMS@OZ 226 ...!mit-vax!RMS@OZ 227 228 US Snail: 229 Richard Stallman 230 166 Prospect St 231 Cambridge, MA 02139 232 </pre> 233 </div> 234 235 <h3 id="f1" class="footnote">Footnote</h3> 236 <ol> 237 <li> 238 <p><em>The wording here was careless.</em> The intention was that nobody would 239 have to pay for <b>permission</b> to use the GNU system. But the 240 words don't make this clear, and people often interpret them as saying 241 that copies of GNU should always be distributed at little or no 242 charge. That was never the intent. Subsequently I have learned to 243 distinguish carefully between “free” in the sense of 244 freedom and “free” in the sense of price. Free software 245 is software that users have the freedom to distribute and change. 246 Some users may obtain copies at no charge, while others pay to obtain 247 copies—and if the funds help support improving the software, so much 248 the better. The important thing is that everyone who has a copy has 249 the freedom to cooperate with others in using it. 250 </p> 251 252 <p>The expression “give away” is another 253 indication that I had not yet clearly separated the issue of price 254 from that of freedom. We now recommend avoiding this expression when 255 talking about free software. See 256 “<a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#GiveAwaySoftware">Confusing 257 Words and Phrases</a>” for more explanation.</p> 258 </li> 259 </ol> 260 261 </div> 262 263 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 264 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 265 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 266 <div class="unprintable"> 267 268 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 269 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 270 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 271 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 272 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 273 274 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 275 replace it with the translation of these two: 276 277 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 278 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 279 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 280 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 281 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 282 283 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 284 our web pages, see <a 285 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 286 README</a>. --> 287 Please see the <a 288 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 289 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 290 of this article.</p> 291 </div> 292 293 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 294 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 295 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 296 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 297 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 298 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 299 document was modified, or published. 300 301 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 302 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 303 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 304 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 305 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 306 307 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 308 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 309 310 <p>Copyright © 1983, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2021, 2022 Free Software Foundation, 311 Inc.</p> 312 313 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 314 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 315 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 316 317 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 318 319 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 320 <!-- timestamp start --> 321 $Date: 2022/02/20 08:26:21 $ 322 <!-- timestamp end --> 323 </p> 324 </div> 325 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 326 </body> 327 </html>