The GNU Operating System and the Free Software Movement
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GNU is the only operating system developed
specifically to give its users freedom. What is GNU, and what freedom
is at stake?
Escape to Freedom: A video from the FSF
What is GNU?
GNU is an operating system that
is
free software
—that is,
it respects users' freedom. The GNU operating system consists of GNU
packages (programs specifically released by the GNU Project) as well
as free software released by third parties. The development of GNU
made it possible to use a computer without software that would trample
your freedom.
We recommend
installable
versions of GNU
(more precisely, GNU/Linux distributions) which
are entirely free software.
More about GNU
below
Try GNU/Linux
Dragora / TDE
Guix / Plasma
Hyperbola / i3
Parabola / LXDE
PureOS / GNOME3
Trisquel / MATE
... or
Try parts of GNU
What is the Free Software Movement?
The free software movement campaigns to win for the users of
computing the freedom that comes from free software. Free software
puts its users in control of their own computing. Nonfree software
puts its users under the power of the software's developer. See
the video explanation
What is Free Software?
Free software means the users have the freedom to run,
copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software.
Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the
concept, you should think of “free” as in “free
speech,” not as in “free beer.”
More precisely, free software means users of a program have
the
four essential
freedoms
The freedom to run the program as you wish,
for any purpose (freedom 0).
The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it
does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source
code is a precondition for this.
The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others
(freedom 2).
The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions
to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole
community a chance to benefit from your changes.
Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
Developments in technology and network use have made these freedoms
even more
important now
than they were in 1983.
Nowadays the free software movement goes far beyond developing the
GNU system. See
the Free Software
Foundation's web site
for more about what we do, and a list
of
ways you can help
More about GNU
GNU is a Unix-like operating system. That
means it is a collection of many programs: applications, libraries,
developer tools, even games. The development of GNU, started in
January 1984, is known as the GNU Project. Many of the programs in
GNU are released under the auspices of the GNU Project; those we
call
GNU packages
The name “GNU” is a recursive acronym for “GNU's
Not
Unix.”
“GNU”
is pronounced
g'noo
, as one syllable, like saying
“grew” but replacing the
with
The program in a Unix-like system that allocates machine resources
and talks to the hardware is called the “kernel.” GNU is
typically used with a kernel called Linux. This combination is
the
GNU/Linux operating
system
. GNU/Linux is used by millions, though
many
call it “Linux” by
mistake
GNU's own kernel, the
GNU Hurd
was started in 1990 (before Linux was started). Volunteers continue
developing the Hurd because it is an interesting technical
project.
More information
The GNU Project strongly urges the community to communicate in
ways that are friendly, welcoming and kind. See the
GNU Kind Communications Guidelines
As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be
glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we
should do freely and generously.
Benjamin
Franklin,
Autobiography
Planet GNU
RAIL: Nonfree and unethical
Any software license that denies users their freedom is by definition nonfree and unethical, and so-called "Responsible AI" Licenses (RAIL) are no exception. If w...
Free Software Directory meeting on IRC: Friday, April 24, starting at 12:00 EDT (16:00 UTC)
Join the FSF and friends on Friday, April 24 from 12:00 to 15:00 EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC) to help...
sed-4.10 released [stable]
This is to announce sed-4.10, a stable release. It's been more than 3.5 years and quite a few new bug fixes.
Special thanks to Paul Eggert, Bruno Haible and Co...
Take Action
Support current FSF
campaigns
Sign the petition
for freedom in the classroom
Join the
Copilot Watch Group
More action items
Can you help GNU with any of these projects?
GNU high priority enhancement projects
Free program to subtract
background music
Can you contribute to any of
the
long-term
high priority projects
Can you help
maintain a GNU package
These packages are looking for maintainers:
cfengine
halifax
quickthreads
guile-sdl
superopt
Also, these packages are looking for co-maintainers:
aspell
bison
gnuae
gnubik
metaexchange
powerguru
See the package web pages for more information.
Recent GNU
releases
Short descriptions for all GNU
packages
Today's random package…
Gxmessage
GNU gxmessage is a program that pops up dialog windows, which display a
message to the user and waits for their action. The program then exits
with an exit code corresponding to the response.
doc
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“The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a nonprofit with a worldwide
mission to promote computer user freedom. We defend the rights of all
software users.”
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