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| website = {{URL |https://gnu.org/}}}} | website = {{URL |https://gnu.org/}}}}
] console startup and login]] ] console startup and login]]
'''GNU''' {{IPAc-en|audio =En-gnu.ogg|ɡ|n|uː}}<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.gnu.org/ |title = What is GNU? |work = The GNU Operating System | date = September 4, 2009 | publisher = ] |accessdate=October 9, 2009 | quote =The name ‘GNU’ is a ] for ‘GNU's Not Unix!‘; it is pronounced ''g-noo'', as one syllable with no vowel sound between the ''g'' and the ''n''.}}</ref><!-- /gnu:/ is not a possible English pronunciation--><ref name= "rms-zagreb-talk" /> is a ] computer ] composed wholly of ].<ref name = "handbookonopensource" /><ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html | title = GNU Manifesto |publisher = FSF | work = GNU project |accessdate= 2011-07-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url= http://books.google.com/books?id=F6qgFtLwpJgC | title = The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary | pages = 10–12 | isbn= 978-0-59600108-7 | last = Raymond | first =Eric | date = 2001-02-01}}</ref> ''GNU'' is a ] for ''"GNU's Not Unix!"'',<ref name = "handbookonopensource" /><ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.thefreedictionary.com/GNU%27s+Not+Unix |title=GNU's Not Unix | publisher =The free dictionary | accessdate = 2012-09-22}}</ref> chosen because GNU's design is ], but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no ] code.<ref name = handbookonopensource>{{cite book |first1 = Kirk |last1=St. Amant |first2=Brian |last2 = Still |title=Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic, and Social Perspectives |isbn= 1-59140999-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | publisher = FSF | work = GNU project | url = https://www.gnu.org/ | title = The GNU Operating system | accessdate = 2008-08-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Marshall |first = Rosalie | place = ] | url = http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/128513,qa-richard-stallman-founder-of-the-gnu-project-and-the-free-software-foundation.aspx |title = Q&A: Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation | publisher = PC & Tech Authority |date = 2008-11-17 |accessdate = 2012-09-22}}</ref> and was the original focus of the ] (FSF).<ref name = "handbookonopensource" /><ref name = computerworld>Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "", '']'', April 9, 2009: "…after more than 25 years in development, GNU remains incomplete: its kernel, Hurd, has never really made it out of the starting blocks. Almost no one has actually been able to use the OS; it's really more a set of ideas than an operating system."</ref><ref name= Hillesley>{{Citation | last = Hillesley | first = Richard | newspaper = The H | url = http://www.h-online.com/open/features/GNU-HURD-Altered-visions-and-lost-promise-1030942.html | edition = online | title = GNU HURD: Altered visions and lost promise | date = June 30, 2010 | page = | quote = Nearly twenty years later the HURD has still to reach maturity, and has never achieved production quality. Some of us are still wishing and hoping for the real deal, a GNU operating system with a GNU kernel.}}</ref><ref>Lessig, Lawrence. ''The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World'', p. 54. Random House, 2001. ISBN 978-0-375-50578-2. About Stallman: "He had mixed all of the ingredients needed for an operating system to function, but he was missing the core."</ref> However, non-GNU kernels, most famously the ], can also be used with GNU software.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://oreilly.com/openbook/debian/book/ch01_02.html |title= Debian open book | chapter = 1.2 What is Linux? |publisher = O’Reilly |date=1991-10-05 |accessdate = 2012-09-22}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | edition = 12.4 | contribution-url = https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/installation-guide/i386/what-is-linux.html | contribution =What is GNU/Linux? |publisher= Canonical | series = Ubuntu | title = i386 installation guide | accessdate = 2014-04-17}}</ref> The combination of GNU software and the Linux kernel is known as GNU/Linux (which is, erroneously, often referred to as Linux, see ]). '''GNU''' {{IPAc-en|audio =En-gnu.ogg|ɡ|n|uː}}<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.gnu.org/ |title = What is GNU? |work = The GNU Operating System | date = September 4, 2009 | publisher = ] |accessdate=October 9, 2009 | quote =The name ‘GNU’ is a ] for ‘GNU's Not Unix!‘; it is pronounced ''g-noo'', as one syllable with no vowel sound between the ''g'' and the ''n''.}}</ref><!-- /gnu:/ is not a possible English pronunciation--><ref name= "rms-zagreb-talk" /> is a ] computer ] composed wholly of ].<ref name = "handbookonopensource" /><ref>{{cite web | url =https://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html | title = GNU Manifesto |publisher = FSF | work = GNU project |accessdate= 2011-07-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url= http://books.google.com/books?id=F6qgFtLwpJgC | title = The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary | pages = 10–12 | isbn= 978-0-59600108-7 | last = Raymond | first =Eric | date = 2001-02-01}}</ref> ''GNU'' is a ] for ''"GNU's Not Unix!"'',<ref name = "handbookonopensource" /><ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.thefreedictionary.com/GNU%27s+Not+Unix |title=GNU's Not Unix | publisher =The free dictionary | accessdate = 2012-09-22}}</ref> chosen because GNU's design is ], but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no ] code.<ref name = handbookonopensource>{{cite book |first1 = Kirk |last1=St. Amant |first2=Brian |last2 = Still |title=Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic, and Social Perspectives |isbn= 1-59140999-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | publisher = FSF | work = GNU project | url = https://www.gnu.org/ | title = The GNU Operating system | accessdate = 2008-08-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Marshall |first = Rosalie | place = ] | url = http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/128513,qa-richard-stallman-founder-of-the-gnu-project-and-the-free-software-foundation.aspx |title = Q&A: Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation | publisher = PC & Tech Authority |date = 2008-11-17 |accessdate = 2012-09-22}}</ref> and was the original focus of the ] (FSF).<ref name = "handbookonopensource" /><ref name = computerworld>Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. "", '']'', April 9, 2009: "…after more than 25 years in development, GNU remains incomplete: its kernel, Hurd, has never really made it out of the starting blocks. Almost no one has actually been able to use the OS; it's really more a set of ideas than an operating system."</ref><ref name= Hillesley>{{Citation | last = Hillesley | first = Richard | newspaper = The H | url = http://www.h-online.com/open/features/GNU-HURD-Altered-visions-and-lost-promise-1030942.html | edition = online | title = GNU HURD: Altered visions and lost promise | date = June 30, 2010 | page = | quote = Nearly twenty years later the HURD has still to reach maturity, and has never achieved production quality. Some of us are still wishing and hoping for the real deal, a GNU operating system with a GNU kernel.}}</ref><ref>Lessig, Lawrence. ''The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World'', p. 54. Random House, 2001. ISBN 978-0-375-50578-2. About Stallman: "He had mixed all of the ingredients needed for an operating system to function, but he was missing the core."</ref> However, non-GNU kernels, most famously the ], can also be used with GNU software.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://oreilly.com/openbook/debian/book/ch01_02.html |title= Debian open book | chapter = 1.2 What is Linux? |publisher = O’Reilly |date=1991-10-05 |accessdate = 2012-09-22}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | edition = 12.4 | contribution-url = https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/installation-guide/i386/what-is-linux.html | contribution =What is GNU/Linux? |publisher= Canonical | series = Ubuntu | title = i386 installation guide | accessdate = 2014-04-17}}</ref> The combination of GNU software and the Linux kernel is known as Linux (or less frequently GNU/Linux, see ]).


Stallman views GNU as a "technical means to a social end."<ref>{{Citation | contribution = KTH | publisher = FSF | title = Philosophy | series = GNU | contribution-url = https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/stallman-kth.html | first = Richard | last = Stallman | type = speech | place = Stockholm, Sweden | year = 1986}}.</ref> Stallman views GNU as a "technical means to a social end."<ref>{{Citation | contribution = KTH | publisher = FSF | title = Philosophy | series = GNU | contribution-url = https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/stallman-kth.html | first = Richard | last = Stallman | type = speech | place = Stockholm, Sweden | year = 1986}}.</ref>
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The goal was to bring a wholly free software operating system into existence. Stallman wanted computer users to be "free", as most were in the 1960s and 1970s&nbsp;– free to study the source code of the software they use, free to share the software with other people, free to modify the behavior of the software, and free to publish their modified versions of the software. This philosophy was later published as the ] in March 1985.<ref name="internethist" /> The goal was to bring a wholly free software operating system into existence. Stallman wanted computer users to be "free", as most were in the 1960s and 1970s&nbsp;– free to study the source code of the software they use, free to share the software with other people, free to modify the behavior of the software, and free to publish their modified versions of the software. This philosophy was later published as the ] in March 1985.<ref name="internethist" />


Richard Stallman's experience with the ] (ITS),<ref name="intervention" /> an early operating system written in ] that became obsolete due to discontinuation of ], the computer architecture for which ITS was written, led to a decision that a ] system was necessary.<ref name="rms-zagreb-talk" />{{rp|at=}}<ref name="opensource2.0">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=q9GnNrq3e5EC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution |first1=Chris |last1=DiBona |first2=Mark |last2=Stone |first3=Danese |last3=Cooper |date=October 2005 |pages=38–40 |isbn=9780596008024}}</ref> It was thus decided that the development will be started using ] and ] as system programming languages,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://laurel.datsi.fi.upm.es/~ssoo/IG/download/timeline.html|title=Timeline of GNU/Linux and Unix|quote=Both C and Lisp would be available as system programming languages.}}</ref> and that GNU would be compatible with Unix.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=53zaxy423xcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Beginning Portable Shell Scripting: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Open Source)|date=November 2008|pages=177–178 |isbn=9781430210436 |author1=Seebach |first1=Peter}}</ref> At the time, Unix was already a popular ] operating system. The design of Unix was modular, so it could be reimplemented piece by piece.<ref name="opensource2.0" /> Richard Stallman's experience with the ] (ITS),<ref name="intervention" /> an early operating system written in ] that became obsolete due to discontinuation of ], the computer architecture for which ITS was written, led to a decision that a ] system was necessary.<ref name="rms-zagreb-talk" />{{rp|at=}}<ref name="opensource2.0">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=q9GnNrq3e5EC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution |first1=Chris |last1=DiBona |first2=Mark |last2=Stone |first3=Danese |last3=Cooper |date=October 2005 |pages=38–40 |isbn=9780596008024}}</ref> It was thus decided that the development will be started using ] and ] as system programming languages,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://laurel.datsi.fi.upm.es/~ssoo/IG/download/timeline.html|title=Timeline of GNU/Linux and Unix|quote=Both C and Lisp will be available as system programming languages.}}</ref> and that GNU would be compatible with Unix.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=53zaxy423xcC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Beginning Portable Shell Scripting: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Open Source)|date=November 2008|pages=177–178 |isbn=9781430210436 |author1=Seebach |first1=Peter}}</ref> At the time, Unix was already a popular ] operating system. The design of Unix was modular, so it could be reimplemented piece by piece.<ref name="opensource2.0" />


Much of the needed software had to be written from scratch, but existing compatible third-party free software components were also used such as the ] typesetting system, the ],<ref name="internethist" /> and the ] microkernel that forms the basis of the ] core of ] (the official kernel of GNU).<ref name="linuxinterface">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ps2SH727eCIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook|pages=5–6|date=October 2010 |isbn=9781593272203 |author1=Kerrisk |first1=Michael}}</ref> With the exception of the aforementioned third-party components, most of GNU has been written by volunteers; some in their spare time, some paid by companies,<ref name="cygnus">{{cite book |url=http://oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/tiemans.html |title=Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution |publisher=O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. |date=January 1999 |isbn=1-56592-582-3}}</ref> educational institutions, and other non-profit organizations. In October 1985, Stallman set up the ] (FSF). In the late 1980s and 1990s, the FSF hired software developers to write the software needed for GNU.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LlCnYt2snHYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=The Software Industry | pages=187–196 |isbn=9783642315091 |author1=Buxmann |first1=Peter |last2=Diefenbach |first2=Heiner |last3=Hess |first3=Thomas |date=2012-09-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/?id=50maN7VmpusC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false | title=Practical UNIX and Internet Security, 3rd Edition | publisher=O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. |date=February 2003 | page=18 |isbn=9781449310127}}</ref> Much of the needed software had to be written from scratch, but existing compatible third-party free software components were also used such as the ] typesetting system, the ],<ref name="internethist" /> and the ] microkernel that forms the basis of the ] core of ] (the official kernel of GNU).<ref name="linuxinterface">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ps2SH727eCIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook|pages=5–6|date=October 2010 |isbn=9781593272203 |author1=Kerrisk |first1=Michael}}</ref> With the exception of the aforementioned third-party components, most of GNU has been written by volunteers; some in their spare time, some paid by companies,<ref name="cygnus">{{cite book |url=http://oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/tiemans.html |title=Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution |publisher=O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. |date=January 1999 |isbn=1-56592-582-3}}</ref> educational institutions, and other non-profit organizations. In October 1985, Stallman set up the ] (FSF). In the late 1980s and 1990s, the FSF hired software developers to write the software needed for GNU.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LlCnYt2snHYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=The Software Industry | pages=187–196 |isbn=9783642315091 |author1=Buxmann |first1=Peter |last2=Diefenbach |first2=Heiner |last3=Hess |first3=Thomas |date=2012-09-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/?id=50maN7VmpusC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false | title=Practical UNIX and Internet Security, 3rd Edition | publisher=O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. |date=February 2003 | page=18 |isbn=9781449310127}}</ref>
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], an example of an ]]] ], an example of an ]]]
], an example of an FSF approved distribution that uses a ] model]] ], an example of an FSF approved distribution that uses a ] model]]
], FSF endorsed GNU/Linux-libre distribution ()]] ], FSF endorsed Linux distribution ()]]


==GNU variants== ==GNU variants==
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In 1991, the ] (LGPL), then known as the Library General Public License, was written for the ] to allow it to be linked with proprietary software.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Free BSD | url = http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/bsdl-gpl/origins-lgpl.html | title = The origins of Linux and the LGPL}}.</ref> 1991 also saw the release of version 2 of the GNU GPL. The ] (FDL), for documentation, followed in 2000.<ref>{{cite book|url= http://books.google.com/books?id=2VElII9QeakC | title = Innovation Happens Elsewhere: Open Source as Business Strategy| pages = 133–34| date = April 2005 | isbn = 978-1-55860889-4| last1 = Goldman | first1 = Ron| last2= Gabriel | first2 = Richard P}}</ref> The GPL and LGPL were revised to version 3 in 2007, adding clauses to protect users against ] that prevent user to run modified software on their own devices.<ref>{{cite book |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=gmfFsdIAejkC | title = Linux Essentials |chapter = Free Software and the GPL |year=2012 |isbn = 978-1-11819739-4 |author1=Smith |first1 = Roderick W}}</ref> In 1991, the ] (LGPL), then known as the Library General Public License, was written for the ] to allow it to be linked with proprietary software.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Free BSD | url = http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/bsdl-gpl/origins-lgpl.html | title = The origins of Linux and the LGPL}}.</ref> 1991 also saw the release of version 2 of the GNU GPL. The ] (FDL), for documentation, followed in 2000.<ref>{{cite book|url= http://books.google.com/books?id=2VElII9QeakC | title = Innovation Happens Elsewhere: Open Source as Business Strategy| pages = 133–34| date = April 2005 | isbn = 978-1-55860889-4| last1 = Goldman | first1 = Ron| last2= Gabriel | first2 = Richard P}}</ref> The GPL and LGPL were revised to version 3 in 2007, adding clauses to protect users against ] that prevent user to run modified software on their own devices.<ref>{{cite book |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=gmfFsdIAejkC | title = Linux Essentials |chapter = Free Software and the GPL |year=2012 |isbn = 978-1-11819739-4 |author1=Smith |first1 = Roderick W}}</ref>


Besides GNU's own packages, the GNU Project's licenses are used by many unrelated projects, such as the ], often used with GNU software. A minority of the software used by most of GNU/Linux distributions, such as the X Window System, is licensed under ]s. Besides GNU's own packages, the GNU Project's licenses are used by many unrelated projects, such as the ], often used with GNU software. A minority of the software used by most of Linux distributions, such as the X Window System, is licensed under ]s.


== Logo == == Logo ==

Revision as of 18:39, 10 April 2015

Template:Two other uses

Operating system
GNU
DeveloperCommunity
Written inVarious (notably C and assembly language)
OS familyUnix-like
Working stateCurrent
Source modelFree Software
Latest preview0.9 (18 December 2016) [±]
Marketing targetPersonal computers, mobile devices, embedded devices, servers, mainframes, supercomputers
Available inMultilingual
PlatformsIA-32 (with Hurd kernel only) and Alpha, ARC, ARM, AVR32, Blackfin, C6x, ETRAX CRIS, FR-V, H8/300, Hexagon, Itanium, M32R, m68k, META, Microblaze, MIPS, MN103, OpenRISC, PA-RISC, PowerPC, s390, S+core, SuperH, SPARC, TILE64, Unicore32, x86, Xtensa (with Linux-libre kernel only)
Kernel typeMicrokernel (GNU Hurd) or Monolithic kernel (GNU Linux-libre, fork of Linux)
Default
user interface		GNOME
LicenseGNU GPL, GNU LGPL, GNU AGPL, GNU FDL, GNU FSDG
Official websitegnu.org
Debian GNU/Hurd console startup and login

GNU /ɡnuː/ is a Unix-like computer operating system composed wholly of free software. GNU is a recursive acronym for "GNU's Not Unix!", chosen because GNU's design is Unix-like, but differs from Unix by being free software and containing no Unix code. and was the original focus of the Free Software Foundation (FSF). However, non-GNU kernels, most famously the Linux kernel, can also be used with GNU software. The combination of GNU software and the Linux kernel is known as Linux (or less frequently GNU/Linux, see GNU/Linux naming controversy).

Stallman views GNU as a "technical means to a social end."

History

File:Richard Matthew Stallman2.jpeg
Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project

Development of the GNU ("GNU's Not Unix!") operating system was initiated by Richard Stallman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Artificial Intelligence Laboratory as a project called the GNU Project which was publicly announced on September 27, 1983, on the net.unix-wizards and net.usoft newsgroups by Richard Stallman. Software development began on January 5, 1984, when Stallman quit his job at the Lab so that they could not claim ownership or interfere with distributing GNU components as free software. Richard Stallman chose the name by using various plays on words, including the song The Gnu.

The goal was to bring a wholly free software operating system into existence. Stallman wanted computer users to be "free", as most were in the 1960s and 1970s – free to study the source code of the software they use, free to share the software with other people, free to modify the behavior of the software, and free to publish their modified versions of the software. This philosophy was later published as the GNU Manifesto in March 1985.

Richard Stallman's experience with the Incompatible Timesharing System (ITS), an early operating system written in assembly language that became obsolete due to discontinuation of PDP-10, the computer architecture for which ITS was written, led to a decision that a portable system was necessary. It was thus decided that the development will be started using C and Lisp as system programming languages, and that GNU would be compatible with Unix. At the time, Unix was already a popular proprietary operating system. The design of Unix was modular, so it could be reimplemented piece by piece.

Much of the needed software had to be written from scratch, but existing compatible third-party free software components were also used such as the TeX typesetting system, the X Window System, and the Mach microkernel that forms the basis of the GNU Mach core of GNU Hurd (the official kernel of GNU). With the exception of the aforementioned third-party components, most of GNU has been written by volunteers; some in their spare time, some paid by companies, educational institutions, and other non-profit organizations. In October 1985, Stallman set up the Free Software Foundation (FSF). In the late 1980s and 1990s, the FSF hired software developers to write the software needed for GNU.

As GNU gained prominence, interested businesses began contributing to development or selling GNU software and technical support. The most prominent and successful of these was Cygnus Solutions, now part of Red Hat.

Components

Main article: List of GNU packages

The system's basic components include the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), the GNU C library (glibc), and GNU Core Utilities (coreutils), but also the GNU Debugger (GDB), GNU Binary Utilities (binutils), the GNU Bash shell and the GNOME desktop environment. GNU developers have contributed to Linux ports of GNU applications and utilities, which are now also widely used on other operating systems such as BSD variants, Solaris and Mac OS X.

Many GNU programs have been ported to other operating systems, including proprietary platforms such as Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Compared to their proprietary Unix counterparts, GNU programs have also been shown to be more reliable.

As of August 2014, there are a total of 452 GNU packages (including decommissioned, 373 excluding) hosted on the official GNU development site.

gNewSense, an example of an FSF approved distribution
Parabola, an example of an FSF approved distribution that uses a rolling release model
File:Screenshot of Trisquel 7.png
Trisquel GNU/Linux, FSF endorsed Linux distribution (GNU screenshot)

GNU variants

Main article: GNU variants

The official kernel of GNU Project was the GNU Hurd microkernel; however, as of 2012, Linux became officially part of the GNU Project in the form of Linux-libre, a variant of Linux with all proprietary components removed.

Other kernels like the FreeBSD kernel also work together with GNU software to form a working operating system. The FSF maintains that Linux, when used with GNU tools and utilities, should be considered a variant of GNU, and promotes the term GNU/Linux for such systems (leading to the GNU/Linux naming controversy). The GNU Project has endorsed variants using Linux, such as gNewSense, Trisquel and Parabola GNU/Linux-libre. Other GNU variants which do not use the Hurd as a kernel include Debian GNU/kFreeBSD and Debian GNU/NetBSD, bringing to fruition the early plan of GNU on a BSD kernel.

Copyright, GNU licenses, and stewardship

The GNU Project recommends that contributors assign the copyright for GNU packages to the Free Software Foundation, though the Free Software Foundation considers it acceptable to release small changes to an existing project to the public domain. However, this is not required; package maintainers may retain copyright to the GNU packages they maintain, though since only the copyright holder may enforce the license used (such as the GNU GPL), the copyright holder in this case enforces it rather than the Free Software Foundation.

For the development of needed software, Stallman wrote a license called the GNU General Public License (first called Emacs General Public License), with the goal to guarantee users freedom to share and change free software. Stallman wrote this license after his experience with James Gosling and a program called UniPress, over a controversy around software code use in the GNU Emacs program. For most of the 80s, each GNU package had its own license: the Emacs General Public License, the GCC General Public License, etc. In 1989, FSF published a single license they could use for all their software, and which could be used by non-GNU projects: the GNU General Public License (GPL).

This license is now used by most of GNU software, as well as a large number of free software programs that are not part of the GNU Project; it is also the most commonly used free software license. It gives all recipients of a program the right to run, copy, modify and distribute it, while forbidding them from imposing further restrictions on any copies they distribute. This idea is often referred to as copyleft.

In 1991, the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), then known as the Library General Public License, was written for the GNU C Library to allow it to be linked with proprietary software. 1991 also saw the release of version 2 of the GNU GPL. The GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), for documentation, followed in 2000. The GPL and LGPL were revised to version 3 in 2007, adding clauses to protect users against hardware restrictions that prevent user to run modified software on their own devices.

Besides GNU's own packages, the GNU Project's licenses are used by many unrelated projects, such as the Linux kernel, often used with GNU software. A minority of the software used by most of Linux distributions, such as the X Window System, is licensed under permissive free software licenses.

Logo

GNU 30th Ann Logo
GNU 30th Ann Logo

The logo for GNU is a gnu head. Originally drawn by Etienne Suvasa, a bolder and simpler version designed by Aurelio Heckert is now preferred. It appears in GNU software and in printed and electronic documentation for the GNU Project, and is also used in Free Software Foundation materials.

The image shown here is a modified version of the official logo. It was created by the Free Software Foundation in September 2013 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the GNU Project.

See also

References

  1. "GNU Licenses".
  2. "GNU FSDG".
  3. "What is GNU?". The GNU Operating System. Free Software Foundation. September 4, 2009. Retrieved October 9, 2009. The name 'GNU' is a recursive acronym for 'GNU's Not Unix!'; it is pronounced g-noo, as one syllable with no vowel sound between the g and the n.
  4. ^ Stallman, Richard (March 9, 2006). The Free Software Movement and the Future of Freedom. Zagreb, Croatia: FSF Europe. Retrieved February 20, 2007. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |laysummary= ignored (help)
  5. ^ St. Amant, Kirk; Still, Brian. Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic, and Social Perspectives. ISBN 1-59140999-3.
  6. "GNU Manifesto". GNU project. FSF. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  7. Raymond, Eric (2001-02-01). The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary. pp. 10–12. ISBN 978-0-59600108-7.
  8. "GNU's Not Unix". The free dictionary. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
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