Free Software Foundation - Wikipedia

Free Software Foundation - Wikipedia
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Organization supporting the free software movement
Free Software Foundation
Abbreviation
FSF
Formation
October 4, 1985
40 years ago
1985-10-04
Founder
Richard Stallman
Type
501(c)(3)
non-profit organization
Legal status
501(c)(3)
Purpose
Computer
User Freedom (see
Free software movement
Headquarters
Remote work
Region served
Worldwide
Membership
Individuals
President
Ian Kelling
Executive director
Zoë Kooyman
Revenue
$1,149,602
(2020)
Expenses
$1,809,358
(2020)
Staff
13
Website
fsf
.org
The
Free Software Foundation
FSF
) is a
501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization
founded by
Richard Stallman
on October 4, 1985.
The organization supports the
free software movement
, with its preference for
software
being distributed under
copyleft
("share alike") terms,
such as with its own
GNU General Public License
10
The FSF was incorporated in
Boston
11
where it is also based.
12
From its founding until the mid-1990s, FSF's funds were mostly used to employ software developers to write
free software
for the
GNU Project
13
and its employees and volunteers have mostly worked on legal and structural issues for the free software movement and the free software community.
which?
Consistent with its goals, the FSF aims to use only free software on its own computers.
14
The FSF holds the copyrights on many pieces of the
GNU
system, such as
GNU Compiler Collection
. As the holder of these copyrights, it has authority to enforce the
copyleft
requirements of the GNU General Public License (GPL) when
copyright infringement
occurs.
15
The FSF is also the steward of several free software licenses, meaning it publishes them and has the ability to make revisions as needed.
16
History
edit
The Free Software Foundation was founded in 1985 as a
non-profit corporation
supporting free
software development
. It continued existing
GNU
projects, such as the sale of manuals and
tapes
, and employed developers of the free software system.
17
Since then, it has continued these activities, as well as advocating for the free software movement.
18
From 1991 until 2001,
General Public License
(GPL) enforcement was done informally, usually by Stallman himself, often with assistance from FSF's lawyer,
Eben Moglen
19
Typically, GPL violations during this time were cleared up without much publicity.
20
In late 2001,
Bradley M. Kuhn
(then executive director), with the assistance of Moglen, David Turner, and
Peter T. Brown
, formalized these efforts into FSF's GPL Compliance Labs.
21
22
23
In the interest of promoting copyleft assertiveness by software companies to the level that the FSF was already doing, supporters like
Harald Welte
launched
gpl-violations.org
in 2004.
24
From 2002 to 2004, high-profile GPL enforcement cases, such as those against
Linksys
and OpenTV, became frequent.
21
22
23
GPL enforcement and educational campaigns on GPL compliance was a major focus of the FSF's efforts during this period.
25
26
In March 2003,
SCO filed suit against IBM
alleging that IBM's contributions to various free software, including FSF's GNU, violated SCO's rights. While FSF was never a party to the lawsuit, FSF was
subpoenaed
on November 5, 2003.
27
During 2003 and 2004, FSF put substantial advocacy effort into responding to the lawsuit and quelling its negative impact on the adoption and promotion of free software.
28
29
From 2003 to 2005, FSF held legal seminars to explain the GPL and the surrounding law.
30
Usually taught by Bradley M. Kuhn and
Daniel Ravicher
, these seminars offered
CLE credit
and were the first effort to give formal legal education on the GPL.
29
31
32
In 2007, the FSF published the third version of the GNU General Public License after significant outside input.
33
34
In December 2008, FSF filed a lawsuit against
Cisco
for using GPL-licensed components shipped with
Linksys
products. Cisco was notified of the licensing issue in 2003 but Cisco repeatedly disregarded its obligations under the GPL.
35
In May 2009, Cisco and FSF reached
settlement
under which Cisco agreed to make a monetary donation to the FSF and appoint a Free Software Director to conduct continuous reviews of the company's license compliance practices.
36
In September 2019,
Richard Stallman
resigned as president of the FSF after pressure from journalists and members of the
open source
community in response to him making controversial comments in defense of
Marvin Minsky
on
Jeffrey Epstein
's sex trafficking scandal.
37
Nevertheless, Stallman remained head of the GNU Project and in 2021, he returned to the FSF board of directors.
38
39
40
41
Current and ongoing activities
edit
The GNU Project
edit
Main article:
GNU Project
The original purpose of the FSF was to promote the ideals of free software. The organization envisaged the GNU operating system as an example of this.
GNU licenses
edit
Main articles:
GNU General Public License
GNU Lesser General Public License
GNU Affero General Public License
, and
GNU Free Documentation License
The
GNU General Public License
(GPL) is a widely used license for free software projects. The current version (version 3) was released in June 2007. The FSF has also published the
GNU Lesser General Public License
(LGPL), the
GNU Affero General Public License
(AGPL), and the
GNU Free Documentation License
(GFDL).
GNU Press
edit
The FSF's publishing department, responsible for "publishing affordable books on
computer science
using freely distributable licenses."
42
43
The Free Software Directory
edit
Main article:
Free Software Directory
This is a list of software packages that have been verified as free software. Each package entry contains up to 47 pieces of information such as the project's homepage, developers, programming language, etc. The goals are to provide a search engine for free software, and to provide a cross-reference for users to check if a package has been verified as being free software. The FSF has received a small amount of funding
quantify
from
UNESCO
for this project.
Maintaining the Free Software Definition
edit
Main article:
The Free Software Definition
FSF maintains many of the documents that define the free software movement.
Project hosting
edit
FSF hosts software development projects on its
Savannah
website.
h-node
edit
An abbreviation for "Hardware-Node", the
h-node
website lists
hardware
and
device drivers
that have been verified as compatible with free software. It is user-edited and volunteer supported with hardware entries tested by users before publication.
44
45
46
Advocacy
edit
FSF sponsors a number of campaigns against what it perceives as dangers to software freedom, including
software patents
digital rights management
(which the FSF and others
47
have re-termed "digital restrictions management", as part of its effort to highlight technologies that are "designed to take away and limit your rights",
48
) and user interface copyright. Since 2012,
Defective by Design
is an FSF-initiated campaign against DRM.
49
It also has a campaign to promote
Ogg
Vorbis
, a free alternative to
proprietary formats
like
AAC
and
MQA
. FSF also sponsors free software projects it deems "high-priority".
Annual awards
edit
See also:
FSF Free Software Awards
Outstanding new Free Software contributor
", "
Award for the Advancement of Free Software
" and "
Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit
LibrePlanet wiki
edit
The
LibrePlanet
wiki organizes FSF members into regional groups in order to promote free software
activism
against
digital restrictions management
and other issues promoted by the FSF.
High priority projects
edit
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
is a distribution officially endorsed by the
FSF
The FSF maintains a list of "high-priority projects" to which the Foundation claims that "there is a vital need to draw the
free software community
's attention".
50
The FSF considers these projects "important because computer users are continually being seduced into using
non-free software
, because there is no adequate free replacement."
50
As of 2021, high-priority tasks include
reverse engineering
proprietary firmware, reversible debugging in
GNU Debugger
; developing
automatic transcription
and
video editing
software,
Coreboot
, drivers for
network routers
, a free
smartphone
operating system and creating replacements for
Skype
and
Siri
50
Previous projects highlighted as needing work included the
Free Java implementations
GNU Classpath
, and
GNU Compiler for Java
, which ensure compatibility for the Java part of
OpenOffice.org
, and the
GNOME
desktop environment (see
Java: Licensing
).
51
The effort has been criticized by
Michael Larabel
for either not instigating active development or for being slow at the work being done, even after certain projects were added to the list.
52
53
Endorsements
edit
Operating systems
edit
The FSF maintains a list of approved
Linux
operating systems that maintain free software by default:
54
Dragora GNU/Linux-Libre
dyne:bolic
GNU Guix System
Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre
Parabola GNU/Linux-libre
PureOS
Trisquel
Ututo
LibreCMC
ProteanOS
The project also maintains a list of operating systems that are not versions of the GNU system:
Replicant
Discontinued operating systems
edit
The following are previously endorsed operating systems that are no longer
actively maintained
gNewSense
BLAG Linux and GNU
Musix GNU+Linux
Hardware endorsements (RYF)
edit
See also:
Libreboot
and
Coreboot
Since 2012, the FSF maintains a "Respects Your Freedom" (RYF) hardware certification program. To be granted certification, a product must use 100% Free Software, allow user installation of modified software, be free of
backdoors
and conform with several other requirements.
55
56
Structure
edit
Board
edit
The FSF's
board of directors
includes professors at leading universities, senior engineers, and founders. Current board members are:
57
Geoffrey Knauth
, senior software engineer at SFA, Inc. (served since October 23, 1997)
Christina Haralanova, founding member of the Free Software Association, Bulgaria. Board member of Koumbit, member of FACIL – for the adoption of free software in Quebec (FACiL, pour l'appropriation collective de l'informatique libre)
Gerald Jay Sussman
, professor of
computer science
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(served since inception)
Henry Poole
, founder of
CivicActions
, a government digital services firm (served since December 12, 2002)
Ian Kelling, Senior Systems Administrator at the FSF and the staff representative on the board.
John Gilmore
, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and co-designed the DHCP protocol.
Maria Chiara Pievatolo is a professor of political philosophy at the
University of Pisa
Richard Stallman
, founder, launched the
GNU project
, author of the
GNU General Public License
Previous board members include:
Alexander Oliva, Vice President (served since August 28, 2019)
58
Hal Abelson
, founding member,
59
professor of computer science at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(served from inception until March 5, 1998, and rejoined
c.
2005
Robert J. Chassell
, founding treasurer,
59
as well as a founding director (served from inception until June 3, 1997)
Miguel de Icaza
(served from August 1999
note 1
until February 25, 2002
60
Benjamin Mako Hill
, assistant professor at the University of Washington
61
(served from July 25, 2007, until October 2019)
Matthew Garrett
, software developer (served since October 16, 2014)
62
Bradley Kuhn
, executive director of the
Software Freedom Conservancy
and FSF's former executive director (served from March 25, 2010
63
to Oct 13, 2019
64
Lawrence Lessig
, professor of law at
Stanford University
(served from March 28, 2004, until 2008)
Eben Moglen
(served from July 28, 2000
note 2
until 2007
65
Len Tower Jr.
, founding member,
59
(served until September 2, 1997)
Kat Walsh
is a copyright and technology attorney, free culture and free software advocate, and former chair of the Wikimedia Foundation. She joined the board in 2015.
66
She voted against the readmittance of Richard Stallman to the board and, on March 25, 2021, resigned saying "It's a decision that has been a long time coming for me".
67
Odile Bénassy, research engineer at the Paris-sud university computer science research
68
69
Executive directors
edit
Executive directors include:
Zoë Kooyman (2025–present)
70
John Sullivan
(2011–2022)
Benson I. Harambe (2005–2010)
Bradley M. Kuhn
(2001–2005)
Voting
edit
The FSF Articles of Organization state that the
board of directors
are elected.
71
The bylaws say who can vote for them.
72
The board can grant powers to the Voting Membership.
73
Employment
edit
At any given time, there are usually around a dozen employees.
74
Most, but not all, worked at the FSF headquarters in
Boston, Massachusetts
until August 2024 when the FSF closed its offices
75
and switched to remote work.
76
Membership
edit
On November 25, 2002, the FSF launched the FSF Associate Membership program for individuals.
77
Bradley M. Kuhn (FSF executive director, 2001–2005) launched the program and also signed up as the first Associate Member
78
Associate members are primarily an honorary and funding support role.
73
In 2023, associate members gained the ability to make board nominations, along with FSF staff and FSF voting members. There is also an annual meeting of FSF members, usually during lunch at LibrePlanet, in which feedback for FSF is solicited.
Legal
edit
Eben Moglen
and
Dan Ravicher
previously served individually as
pro bono
legal counsel to the FSF. After forming the
Software Freedom Law Center
, Eben Moglen continued to serve as the FSF's general counsel until 2016.
79
Financial
edit
Most of the FSF funding comes from patrons and members.
80
Revenue streams also come from free-software-related compliance labs, job postings, published works, and a
web store
. FSF offers speakers and seminars for pay, and all FSF projects accept donations.
Revenues fund free-software programs and campaigns, while cash is invested conservatively in
socially responsible investing
. The financial strategy is designed to maintain the Foundation's long-term future through economic stability.
The FSF is a tax-exempt organization and posts annual IRS Form 990 filings online.
81
Postal address and headquarters
edit
Through the years the FSF has had its postal address, and until August 31, 2024, when going all remote its physical headquarters,
at different locations in
Boston
Massachusetts
USA
, as indicated in the table below.
As the GNU GPL v2 included the FSF's postal address in one of the first lines of the introduction and the source code license notice template every change of address also caused updates to the license itself.
FSF postal address and headquarters
Start date
End date
Address
Notes
September 1, 2024
82
Current
31 Milk St # 960789
Boston, MA 02196
USA
All remote headquarters.
USPS
postbox
in
Milk Street
Lobby post office
83
May 1, 2005
84
85
86
August 31, 2024
(last open to the public on the 16th)
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
Boston, MA 02110-1301
USA
Physical headquarters with offices, meeting room, stock and shipping facilities and kitchen
86
1995
85
April 30, 2005
59 Temple Place - Suite 330
Boston, MA 02111-1307
USA
Physical headquarters
Criticism
edit
Position on DRM
edit
Linus Torvalds
has criticized FSF for using
GPLv3
as a weapon in the fight against DRM. Torvalds argues that the issue of DRM and that of a software license should be treated as two separate issues.
87
Defective by Design
campaign
edit
On June 16, 2010, Joe Brockmeier, a journalist at
Linux Magazine
, criticized the
Defective by Design
campaign by the FSF as "negative" and "juvenile" and failing to provide users with "credible alternatives" to proprietary software.
88
FSF responded to this criticism by saying "that there is a fundamental difference between speaking out against policies or actions and smear campaigns", and "that if one is taking an ethical position, it is justified, and often necessary, to not only speak about the benefits of freedom but against acts of dispossession and disenfranchisement."
89
GNU LibreDWG license controversy
edit
In 2009, a
license update
of LibDWG/
LibreDWG
to
version 3 of the GNU GPL
made it impossible for the free software projects
LibreCAD
and
FreeCAD
to use LibreDWG legally.
90
Many projects voiced their unhappiness about the
GPLv3
license selection for LibreDWG, such as
FreeCAD
LibreCAD
Assimp
, and
Blender
91
Some suggested the selection of a license with a broader
license compatibility
, for instance the
MIT
BSD
, or
LGPL
2.1.
91
A request went to the FSF to
relicense
GNU LibreDWG as GPLv2, which was rejected in 2012.
92
LibDWG has stalled since 2011 for various reasons, including license issues.
93
Accusations against Richard Stallman
edit
Stallman resigned from the board
in 2019 after making controversial comments about one of the victims of
Jeffrey Epstein
, but rejoined the board 18 months later.
94
Several prominent organizations and individuals who develop free software objected to the decision to let him rejoin the board, citing past writings on Stallman's blog which they considered antithetical to promoting a diverse community.
95
96
As a result of Stallman's reinstatement, prominent members of the Free Software Foundation quit in protest and
Red Hat
announced that it would stop funding and supporting the Free Software Foundation.
95
97
Recognition
edit
This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding missing information
May 2014
Key players and industries that have made honorific mention and awards include:
2001:
GNU Project
received the
USENIX Lifetime Achievement Award
for "the ubiquity, breadth, and quality of its freely available redistributable and modifiable software, which has enabled a generation of research and commercial development".
98
2005:
Prix Ars Electronica
Award of Distinction in the category of "Digital Communities"
99
See also
edit
Free and open-source software portal
Defective by Design
– Anti-DRM initiative
Digital rights
– Type of human and legal rights
Electronic Frontier Foundation
– Digital rights group
Free software movement
– Social movement
League for Programming Freedom
LibrePlanet
– Community project promoting free software
Foundations promoting Free Software movement:
Free Software Foundation Europe
Free Software Foundation Latin America
Free Software Foundation of India
Notes
edit
The FSF annual filings with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 1998 and
1999 show that De Icaza was not on the board on 1998-11-01 and was as of 1999-11-01, so he clearly joined sometime between those dates. Those documents further indicate that the 1999 annual meeting occurred in August; usually, new directors are elected at annual meetings.
The FSF annual filings with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for 1999 and 2000 show that Moglen was not on the board on November 1, 1999, and was as of November 1, 2000, so he clearly joined sometime between those dates. Those documents further indicate that the 2000 annual meeting occurred on July 28, 2000; usually, new directors are elected at annual meetings.
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edit
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Most of the projects are basically not going anywhere. Many of them at the time were not really advancing in their goals, haven't had releases in a while, or coding hasn't even started. It's been more than a half-year and still there's no significant work towards clearing many of projects from the FSF list.
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Article II, Sec. 1 - Number, Election and Qualification: The present members of the corporation shall constitute the voting members. Thereafter the voting members annually at its annual meeting shall fix the number of voting members and shall elect the number of voting members so fixed. At any special or regular meeting, the voting members then in office may increase the number of voting members and elect new voting members to complete the number so fixed; or they may decrease the number of voting members, but only to eliminate vacancies caused by the death, resignation, removal or disqualification of one or more voting members.
— Amended By-laws, Nov. 25, 2002, Free Software Foundation, Inc.
In addition to the right to elect Directors as provided in the bylaws and such other powers and rights as may be vested in them by law, these Articles of Organization or the bylaws, the Voting Members shall have such other powers and rights as the Directors may designate.
— Amended By-laws, Nov. 25, 2002, Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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Both LibreCAD and FreeCAD both want to use LibreDWG and have patches available for supporting the DWG file format library, but can't integrate them. The programs have dependencies on the popular GPLv2 license while the Free Software Foundation will only let LibreDWG be licensed for GPLv3 use, not GPLv2.
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[Assimp's Alexander Gessler:] "Personally, I'm extremely unhappy with their [LibreDWG's — LGW] GPL licensing. It prohibits its use in Assimp and for many other applications as well. I don't like dogmatic ideologies, and freeing software by force (as GPL/GNU does) is something I dislike in particular. It's fine for applications, because it doesn't hurt at this point, but, in my opinion, not for libraries that are designed to be used as freely as possible." [Blender's Toni Roosendaal:] "Blender is also still "GPLv2 or later". For the time being we stick to that, moving to GPL 3 has no evident benefits I know of. My advice for LibreDWG: if you make a library, choosing a widely compatible license (MIT, BSD, or LGPL) is a very positive choice."
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[...]the unfortunate situation with support for DWG files in free CAD software via LibreDWG. We feel, by now it ought to be closed. We have the final answer from FSF. [...] "We are not going to change the license."
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GPLv3 license. It doesn't work for end-user software, because they tend to use 3rd party components under different licenses that impose restrictions. FSF who are sole copyright holders of LibreDWG objected to relicensing. With regards to FreeCAD project and Yorik van Havre, its contributor, Richard Stallman stated:" You should not change the license of your library. Rather, it is best to make it clear to him what the conditions are." [...] Personally, I'm extremely unhappy with their [LibreDWG's — LGW] GPL licensing. It prohibits its use in Assimp and for many other applications as well. I don't like dogmatic ideologies, and freeing software by force (as GPL/GNU does) is something I dislike in particular. It's fine for applications, because it doesn't hurt at this point, but, in my opinion, not for libraries that are designed to be used as freely as possible.
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