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Free Software, Free Society: selected essays of Richard M. Stallman. 2nd edition.


From mit-vax!mit-eddie!RMS@MIT-OZ
From: RMS%MIT-OZ@mit-eddie
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards,net.usoft
Subject: new Unix implementation
Date: Tue, 27-Sep-83 12:35:59 EST
Organization: MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA

Free Unix!

Starting this Thanksgiving I am going to write a complete Unix-compatible
software system called GNU (for Gnu’s Not Unix), and give it away free

[1]
to everyone who can use it. Contributions of time, money, programs and
equipment are greatly needed.

To begin with, GNU will be a kernel plus all the utilities needed to write
and run C programs: editor, shell, C compiler, linker, assembler, and a few
other things. After this we will add a text formatter, a YACC, an Empire
game, a spreadsheet, and hundreds of other things. We hope to supply,
eventually, everything useful that normally comes with a Unix system, and
anything else useful, including on-line and hardcopy documentation.

GNU will be able to run Unix programs, but will not be identical to Unix. We
will make all improvements that are convenient, based on our experience with
other operating systems. In particular, we plan to have longer filenames,
file version numbers, a crashproof file system, filename completion perhaps,
terminal-independent display support, and eventually a Lisp-based window
system through which several Lisp programs and ordinary Unix programs can
share a screen. Both C and Lisp will be available as system programming
languages. We will have network software based on MIT’s chaosnet protocol,
far superior to UUCP. We may also have something compatible with UUCP.

Who Am I?

I am Richard Stallman, inventor of the original much-imitated EMACS editor,
now at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. I have worked extensively
on compilers, editors, debuggers, command interpreters, the Incompatible
Timesharing System and the Lisp Machine operating system. I pioneered
terminal-independent display support in ITS. In addition I have implemented
one crashproof file system and two window systems for Lisp machines.

Why I Must Write GNU

I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must
share it with other people who like it. I cannot in good conscience sign a
nondisclosure agreement or a software license agreement.

So that I can continue to use computers without violating my principles, I
have decided to put together a sufficient body of free software so that I
will be able to get along without any software that is not free.

How You Can Contribute

I am asking computer manufacturers for donations of machines and money. I’m
asking individuals for donations of programs and work.

One computer manufacturer has already offered to provide a machine. But we
could use more. One consequence you can expect if you donate machines is
that GNU will run on them at an early date. The machine had better be able
to operate in a residential area, and not require sophisticated cooling or
power.

Individual programmers can contribute by writing a compatible duplicate
of some Unix utility and giving it to me. For most projects, such part-time
distributed work would be very hard to coordinate; the independently-written
parts would not work together. But for the particular task of replacing
Unix, this problem is absent. Most interface specifications are fixed by
Unix compatibility. If each contribution works with the rest of Unix, it
will probably work with the rest of GNU.

If I get donations of money, I may be able to hire a few people full or part
time. The salary won’t be high, but I’m looking for people for whom knowing
they are helping humanity is as important as money. I view this as a way of
enabling dedicated people to devote their full energies to working on GNU by
sparing them the need to make a living in another way.

For more information, contact me.

Arpanet mail:
RMS@MIT-MC.ARPA

Usenet:
… !mit-eddie!RMS@OZ … !mit-vax!RMS@OZ

US Snail:
Richard Stallman
166 Prospect St
Cambridge, MA 02139

This announcement is part of Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman, 2nd ed. (Boston: GNU Press, 2010).

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire chapter are permitted worldwide, without royalty, in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.