GNU Manifesto

The GNU Manifesto is a call-to-action by Richard Stallman encouraging participation and support of the GNU Project's goal in developing the GNU free computer operating system. The GNU Manifesto was published in March 1985 in Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools.[1] It is held in high regard within the free software movement as a fundamental philosophical source.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

GNU logo
Richard M. Stallman (cover picture for O'Reilly Media's book Free as in Freedom)

The full text is included with GNU software such as Emacs, and is publicly available.[8]

Background

Some parts of the GNU Manifesto began as an announcement of the GNU Project posted by Richard Stallman on September 27, 1983 in form of an email on Usenet newsgroups.[9] The project's aim was to give computer users freedom and control over their computers by collaboratively developing and providing software that is based on Stallman's idea of software freedom (although the written definition had not existed until February 1986).[10] The manifesto was written as a way to familiarize more people with these concepts, and to find more support in form of work, money, programs and hardware.

The GNU Manifesto possessed its name and full written form in 1985 but was updated in minor ways in 1987.[8]

Summary

The GNU Manifesto opens with an explanation of what the GNU Project is, and what is the current, at the time, progress in creation of the GNU operating system. The system, although based on, and compatible with Unix, is meant by the author to have many improvements over it, which are listed in detail in the manifesto.

One of the major driving points behind the GNU project, according to Stallman, was the rapid (at the time) trend toward Unix and its various components becoming proprietary (i.e. closed-source and non-libre) software.[11]

The manifesto lays a philosophical basis for launching the project, and importance of bringing it to fruition — proprietary software is a way to divide users, who are no longer able to help each other. Stallman refuses to write proprietary software as a sign of solidarity with them.

The author provides many reasons for why the project and software freedom is beneficial to users, although he agrees that its wide adoption will make a work of programmer less profitable.

Large part of the GNU Manifesto is focused on rebutting possible objections to GNU Project's goals. They include the programmer's need to make a living, the issue of advertising and distributing free software, and the perceived need of a profit incentive.

See also

References
  1. Stallman, Richard (March 1985). "Dr. Dobb's Journal". Dr. Dobb's Journal. 10 (3): 30. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  2. Bustillos, Maria (2015-03-17). "The GNU Manifesto Turns Thirty". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  3. "Trisquel GNU/Linux flies the flag for software freedom". Computerworld. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  4. "LWN: Interview with Richard M. Stallman". lwn.net. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  5. "Developer interview: DOS is (long) dead, long live FreeDOS". Computerworld. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  6. "CNN - Apple warms up to open source community - June 16, 1999". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  7. "Red Hat: open source genesis, to mainstreaming revelations - Open Source Insider". www.computerweekly.com. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
  8. Stallman, Richard (March 1985). "The GNU Manifesto". GNU Project. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  9. Stallman, Richard. "Initial announcement of the GNU Project". www.gnu.org. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  10. Stallman, Richard M. (February 1986). "GNU's Bulletin, Volume 1 Number 1". Gnu.org. p. 8. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  11. Armstrong, Alex (2015-03-25). "GNU Manifesto Published Thirty Years Ago". I Programmer. Retrieved 2019-10-07.
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