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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="essays licensing traps" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>The X Window System Trap 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <meta http-equiv="Keywords" 9 content="GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, freedom, Richard Stallman, rms, free software movement" /> 10 <meta http-equiv="Description" 11 content="Richard Stallman discusses the history of the movement to develop a free operating system." /> 12 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/x.translist" --> 13 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 14 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 15 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 16 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 17 <div class="article reduced-width"> 18 <h2>The X Window System Trap</h2> 19 20 <address class="byline">by Richard M. Stallman</address> 21 22 <p> 23 To copyleft or not to copyleft? That is one of the major 24 controversies in the free software community. The idea of copyleft is 25 that we should fight fire with fire—that we should use copyright 26 to make sure our code stays free. The GNU General Public License (GNU 27 GPL) is one example of a copyleft license.</p> 28 29 <p> 30 Some free software developers prefer noncopyleft distribution. 31 Noncopyleft licenses such as the XFree86 and 32 <a href="/licenses/bsd.html">BSD</a> licenses are based on the idea 33 of never saying no to anyone—not even to someone who seeks to 34 use your work as the basis for restricting other people. Noncopyleft 35 licensing does nothing wrong, but it misses the opportunity to 36 actively protect our freedom to change and redistribute software. For 37 that, we need copyleft.</p> 38 39 <p> 40 For many years, the X Consortium was the chief opponent of copyleft. 41 It exerted both moral suasion and pressure to discourage free software 42 developers from copylefting their programs. It used moral suasion by 43 suggesting that it is not nice to say no. It used pressure through 44 its rule that copylefted software could not be in the X Distribution.</p> 45 46 <p> 47 Why did the X Consortium adopt this policy? It had to do with their 48 conception of success. The X Consortium defined success as 49 popularity—specifically, getting computer companies to use the X 50 Window System. This definition put the computer companies in the 51 driver's seat: whatever they wanted, the X Consortium had to help 52 them get it.</p> 53 54 <p> 55 Computer companies normally distribute proprietary software. They 56 wanted free software developers to donate their work for such use. If 57 they had asked for this directly, people would have laughed. But the 58 X Consortium, fronting for them, could present this request as an 59 unselfish one. “Join us in donating our work to proprietary software 60 developers,” they said, suggesting that this is a noble form of 61 self-sacrifice. “Join us in achieving popularity,” they said, 62 suggesting that it was not even a sacrifice.</p> 63 64 <p> 65 But self-sacrifice is not the issue: tossing away the defense that 66 copyleft provides, which protects the freedom of the whole community, 67 is sacrificing more than yourself. Those who granted the X 68 Consortium's request entrusted the community's future to the goodwill 69 of the X Consortium.</p> 70 71 <p> 72 This trust was misplaced. In its last year, the X Consortium made a 73 plan to restrict the forthcoming X11R6.4 release so that it would not 74 be free software. They decided to start saying no, not only to 75 proprietary software developers, but to our community as well.</p> 76 77 <p> 78 There is an irony here. If you said yes when the X Consortium asked 79 you not to use copyleft, you put the X Consortium in a position to 80 license and restrict its version of your program, along with the 81 code for the core of X.</p> 82 83 <p> 84 The X Consortium did not carry out this plan. Instead it closed down 85 and transferred X development to the Open Group, whose staff are now 86 carrying out a similar plan. To give them credit, when I asked them 87 to release X11R6.4 under the GNU GPL in parallel with their planned 88 restrictive license, they were willing to consider the idea. (They 89 were firmly against staying with the old X11 distribution terms.) 90 Before they said yes or no to this proposal, it had already failed for 91 another reason: the XFree86 group followed the X Consortium's old 92 policy, and will not accept copylefted software. 93 </p> 94 95 <p> 96 In September 1998, several months after X11R6.4 was released with 97 nonfree distribution terms, the Open Group reversed its decision and 98 rereleased it under the same noncopyleft free software license that 99 was used for X11R6.3. Thus, the Open Group therefore eventually did 100 what was right, but that does not alter the general issue.</p> 101 102 <p> 103 Even if the X Consortium and the Open Group had never planned to 104 restrict X, someone else could have done it. Noncopylefted software 105 is vulnerable from all directions; it lets anyone make a nonfree 106 version dominant, if he will invest sufficient resources to add 107 significantly important features using proprietary code. Users who 108 choose software based on technical characteristics, rather than on 109 freedom, could easily be lured to the nonfree version for short-term 110 convenience.</p> 111 112 <p> 113 The X Consortium and Open Group can no longer exert moral suasion by 114 saying that it is wrong to say no. This will make it easier to decide 115 to copyleft your X-related software.</p> 116 117 <p> 118 When you work on the core of X, on programs such as the X server, 119 Xlib, and Xt, there is a practical reason not to use copyleft. The 120 X.org group does an important job for the community in maintaining 121 these programs, and the benefit of copylefting our changes would be 122 less than the harm done by a fork in development. So it is better to 123 work with them, and not copyleft our changes on these programs. 124 Likewise for utilities such as <code>xset</code> and <code>xrdb</code>, 125 which are close to the 126 core of X and do not need major improvements. At least we know that 127 the X.org group has a firm commitment to developing these programs as 128 free software.</p> 129 130 <p> 131 The issue is different for programs outside the core of X: 132 applications, window managers, and additional libraries and widgets. 133 There is no reason not to copyleft them, and we should copyleft them.</p> 134 135 <p> 136 In case anyone feels the pressure exerted by the criteria for 137 inclusion in the X distributions, the GNU Project will undertake to 138 publicize copylefted packages that work with X. If you would like to 139 copyleft something, and you worry that its omission from the X 140 distribution will impede its popularity, please ask us to help.</p> 141 142 <p> 143 At the same time, it is better if we do not feel too much need for 144 popularity. When a businessman tempts you with “more 145 popularity,” he may try to convince you that his use of your 146 program is crucial to its success. Don't believe it! If your program 147 is good, it will find many users anyway; you don't need to feel 148 desperate for any particular users, and you will be stronger if you do 149 not. You can get an indescribable sense of joy and freedom by 150 responding, “Take it or leave it—that's no skin off my 151 back.” Often the businessman will turn around and accept the 152 program with copyleft, once you call the bluff.</p> 153 154 <p> 155 Friends, free software developers, don't repeat old mistakes! If we 156 do not copyleft our software, we put its future at the mercy of anyone 157 equipped with more resources than scruples. With copyleft, we can 158 defend freedom, not just for ourselves, but for our whole 159 community.</p> 160 </div> 161 162 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 163 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 164 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 165 <div class="unprintable"> 166 167 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 168 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 169 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 170 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 171 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 172 173 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 174 replace it with the translation of these two: 175 176 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 177 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 178 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 179 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 180 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 181 182 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 183 our web pages, see <a 184 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 185 README</a>. --> 186 Please see the <a 187 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 188 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 189 of this article.</p> 190 </div> 191 192 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 193 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 194 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 195 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 196 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 197 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 198 document was modified, or published. 199 200 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 201 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 202 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 203 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 204 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 205 206 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 207 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 208 209 <p>Copyright © 1998, 2009, 2021 Richard M. Stallman</p> 210 211 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 212 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 213 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 214 215 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 216 217 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 218 <!-- timestamp start --> 219 $Date: 2021/09/05 10:10:14 $ 220 <!-- timestamp end --> 221 </p> 222 </div> 223 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 224 </body> 225 </html>